


Such a Heavenly View

by Applesaday



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-07
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-02-28 13:09:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 101,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2733761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Applesaday/pseuds/Applesaday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU after 1st Curse. The Curse was just broken a few months ago, and Storybrooke is in shambles, divided by people who want to get home, those who want to hurt Regina, and the few that are willing to protect her. In the midst of it all, someone has started serenading Regina, leaving messages in public spaces. Who is it? Are they just setting her up for a prank to break her heart?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Serenader

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, so this was the plot bunny where I finally gathered the courage to write and post a SQ fanfic. It's daunting and exciting!
> 
> I don't even know how I ended up knowing I was shipping this ship, I just know I started looking it up and dived off the deep end and kinda haven't resurfaced.
> 
> Basically this story came because I've been listening to A Sky Full of Stars on repeat for days on end and feel like the song fits them.
> 
> I hope everyone likes this!
> 
> I don't own anything, if I did, this ship would be beyond canon.

* * *

Regina kept staring at the navy blue velvet box in her hand, willing her brain to start working again. On her other hand was a stock paper card that had been one of the two items inside the box, lying on top of the other item, placed with great care. Surely this was some sort of prank or joke, for there was no way someone would send her such a gorgeous gift, a necklace with a silver 8-sided star on it. She supposed the star symbol was related to the printed words on the card, and she glanced at the small paper rectangle once more.

 

_****_

__**'Cause you're a sky full of stars** _ _

 

It was an enigmatic choice of words, that was certain, but the bigger question was how the box had gotten inside of her locked office when she was one of the few people that had a key to it, the other being…

"Kathryn?" Regina made her way out of her office and into the next room, where her blonde secretary and friend looked up expectantly at her after being called. Regina was stuck for a moment, unsure how to phrase herself.

Kathryn, for her part, noticed the items in Regina's hands, and raising a small eyebrow in confusion, prompted the older woman with: "Regina? Is there something wrong?"

"Did you-" No, she didn't want to sound accusatory. With the broken curse fresh in everyone's heads, one wrong move could send the mindless mob to picket her house once more. She decided to try again. "Do you know of anyone else that might have keys to my office?"

The secretary was even more baffled now. Regina should know better than her as to who would have duplicate keys, being the mayor and all. Not to mention she had only been in this position for a couple of months, ever since the curse broke and no one else had risen to the occasion to work under Regina, considering most of the town was either terrified or pissed off at her. "Not that I know of? Perhaps the janitorial staff?"

Regina had to stifle a scoff. There was no way that Leroy would have done this. He was one of the lead organizers of the mob that liked to decorate her house with rotten fruits and eggs regularly. The unruly dwarf had been one of the worst off during the curse, constantly drunk and jailed. But at the time Regina had only seen red to Snow White's closest supporters, and Grumpy had been at the top of the list, right behind Snow's dim-witted husband Charming, who she supposed ended up getting a kind of blessing being stuck in a coma for nearly three decades. But back to the matter at hand, literally. Kathryn had been talking to her while her thoughts had drifted.

"I'm sorry dear, I missed the last part."

"I said that I don't think they have the key to your inner office." After a beat, she added, a tinge of worry in her voice, "Why? Was something taken?"

Regina shook her head. "No, quite the opposite it seems. Someone dropped this off." She showed her friend the open box and the card.

"Oooh, looks like someone has a secret admirer." Kathryn looked up from the items to smirk playfully at her friend.

Now Regina couldn't hold the scoff in, and replied, "Hardly, this is most likely a prank. You know as well as I do that no one in this town likes me, and especially not in that way."

Kathryn kept her mouth shut, making a noncommittal sound. She knew and believed her friend deserved more, but the one and only time they had ventured to discuss that had led to disastrous consequences, which included a few broken vases and a cracked mirror. It was all courtesy of Regina's emotions powering up her magic to explode the objects nearest her, which were the two vases on her mantel, and the mirror hanging above it. Although neither of them got hurt badly, she and Regina still have the fading scars on their arms from the vase shards flying. Changing the course of conversation to a more safer road, she now asked, "Do you want me to notify the Sheriff's station of a break-in then?"

"No no, that's fine. I'd probably just incite the prankster more if I make them the center of attention."

The blonde nodded, not believing the excuse for one second, but thought better than to counter it and then smiled, "So, are you gonna put it on?"

Here, Regina faltered. She had to admit the necklace was pretty, but putting it on might send the prankster the wrong signal. However, she was never one to back down from a challenge, so with a grin that had the smallest of Evil Queen qualities to it, she nodded. "Yes. Want to help me?"

* * *

 

By the time afternoon rolled around, Regina was ready to tear her hair out. Although she enjoyed her job as mayor, she was certain the citizens of Storybrooke were making sure her workload had doubled, probably to dissuade her from potentially crafting any evil plans now that this curse had fizzed and died. Although it might look like it, Regina wasn't being paranoid with that conclusion. She knew for a fact that there were people actively out to make her life miserable, and if they could get a lucky hit, they would try to end her.

The small town had been divided into four groups once the curse broke. Those scared of Regina, keeping their heads down, mouths shut and hoping they could be spared from anymore drama if they just blended into the background. Such were the timid wallflowers like Ashley and her family, as well as Michael Tillman with his children, among others.

The more dangerous and popular group was furious with Regina, and giving her hell was the least that they could do in retribution. Leroy and Whale were spearheading that movement, sometimes aided by Granny, propping up signs and refusing Regina service around town. They were actually more subdued now, the culmination having been when they had made a giant protest a month ago, breaking into her home and destroying most of it, vandalizing the rest. She thankfully hadn't been home, and neither had Henry, otherwise she was sure she would've been skewered alive, and her son hurt in the crossfire. Her house was still not fully restored, some parts damaged beyond repair, and no one in town would offer her the professional help she needed to fully renovate it. The rage-fuelled group had been later wrangled by the Sheriff and given a thorough talking to, explaining that their actions were very much illegal, and those caught committing further crimes would be penalized to the full extent of the law, no matter who they thought Regina was. Although they still spat vitriol at her every chance they got, they thankfully respected Emma Swan enough to keep their activities only vaguely illegal.

The third group, led by the insipid Charming couple, was solely focused on getting back home to the Enchanted Forest. They attempted to recruit those from the latter group to join them, knowing their efforts would be better spent working together to find a way home, rather than wasting it on Regina. It was a futile and naive effort but they didn't believe Regina when she said the land was gone, and so they continuously perused what they could find to scramble for some sort of method home. Regina let them keep at it and didn't insist. It was probably for the better since, as soon as they were to realize they were stuck for good, they would probably join the enraged likes of Leroy and Granny to make her life in this new version of Storybrooke into a true hell.

The final, and infinitely smaller group was the one supporting and defending Regina, making sure that she wasn't killed every time she was out in public. Kathryn had mercifully forgiven her, and despite having been cursed, she had enjoyed being friends with Regina, now working with her to keep her company and make sure no one came in to the Mayor's office with cruel intentions. Her husband, Jim, had been with those wallflowers at first, but after talking with his wife, now joined her, helping Kathryn and Regina to renovate her damaged house on weekends. The group didn't have many more members, one of them being Archie, who saw the good in everyone, even Regina. But she was sure that she could be a three-eyed cannibalistic troll eating the denizens of Storybrooke on a regular basis and he'd probably still try to convince her that they would eventually end up seeing the good in her. Ruby had been a surprise inclusion, but later Regina found out that the young wolf preferred life here in Storybrooke much more than the Enchanted Forest, and actually thanked her. Sweet Henry was her #1 fan, after they had a serious and honest conversation once the curse broke, and he saw that she wasn't the monster he had thought she was, no thanks to the book's two-dimensional portrayal of her life. She was still trying to prove herself to him, show him that she had changed and wasn't evil.

The final member of the group was someone Regina had never expected, having been the person the curse inadvertently royally screwed over the most. Emma Swan did everything possible to make sure Regina was safe, keeping her word during the town meeting and arresting anyone who was breaking the law to make her life miserable. Regina had been sure that what the Sheriff had said were empty promises meant to keep everyone in their place, but she kept good on her word, surprising Regina. She had even offered and insisted Regina stay over with her and Henry while the house was renovated as well as for protection, and she now shared an apartment with Emma and Henry. Thankfully Emma no longer lived with Mary Margaret, so Regina didn't have that much trouble fitting in to the new home. She also got to see Henry on a daily basis, without having to set up some kind of visiting schedule with Emma, though she was sure that would eventually surface once her house was fully repaired. If Regina had to be entirely honest, she was glad for the current arrangement, and knew that no one would dare to attack her with the Sheriff around, not that she'd admit it out loud...ever. However, she was sure that Emma's involvement was solely because of Henry's insistence, probably having given her a rousing speech on her role as the Savior of their fairytale community, and Sheriff to a small town.

Speaking of whom, Henry had just burst into her office, Emma trailing behind quietly, giving a nod to Regina as Henry launched into telling his adopted mother his many adventures in school. The two had decided, with Henry's best interests in mind, that Henry should be accompanied around town in order to avoid anyone trying to hurt him to get to Regina, and although she knew that Granny and some of the tamer haters would never hurt Henry, some of the angrier parts of group Vitriol - as Emma had taken to affectionately name them - which mainly consisted of DA Spencer and his old cronies, weren't above such things. That had been evident when they one day chucked a watermelon at Regina's passing car, nearly breaking the glass where Henry was riding in the front. Since that moment, Emma, Regina, or Mary Margaret while in school, kept an eye on him, the latter only doing it as a favour to Emma.

The town was in chaos, and no one knew what to do.

"It was so cool mom! The rocket flew like 10 feet!" Henry was excitedly describing today's science experiment, soda powered rockets. While Regina listened, she couldn't help but glance over at the other woman in the room, noticing that she looked positively exhausted. Being a one-woman police force in a town holding fairytale characters with a grudge on an Evil Queen was probably never in Emma Swan's life plans. She currently looked like she was taking a power nap in one of the chairs at the far corner, and Regina couldn't blame her for wanting some peace and quiet. She knew that last night, Emma didn't come home until early in the morning, having found out about that when she was awoken with the door slamming shut, relaxing once she realized it was just Emma.

"So what's up with the necklace mom? Is it new? I didn't see it when we left home this morning." Henry, with unadulterated curiosity, smiled up at her as he asked, looking as if he had downed the contents of the pop bottles used for the rockets all by himself.

"Someone gave it to me this morning."

"Who was it? Was it a present from someone forgiving you?"

"No Henry, someone... left it here for me to find it. They didn't leave a name." Regina wasn't too sure how much of this she wanted to tell Henry, but the questions just kept coming, and sneaking a glance at the Sheriff, Regina could hazard a guess that the woman was listening.

"Didn't Kathryn see who it was?"

"No, she wasn't here when this was dropped off."

"So how did it get in here?"

"We think…maybe someone broke in here."

"WHAT?!" Henry practically screamed, and at this Emma woke up, jumping out of her seat as though she had been sitting on hot coals. Apparently the Sheriff wasn't listening as intently as Regina had originally thought.

"What happened?" Emma reached behind her for the gun Regina knew she kept hidden, glancing around for signs of danger, but at seeing the two other occupants in the room sitting calmly, she dropped her hands, the gun still hidden and holstered.

"Someone broke into mom's office to drop off a necklace." Henry replied, looking at her with a smile. Emma looked so silly, hands before on her back ready to draw something out, now limply at her sides, face stuck between surprise and anger at having been rudely awoken from a nap.

"Oh," Emma said, not fully comprehending what happened. Regina supposed that the lack of reaction or surprise to the news was owed to her sleepy state. After a few beats it sunk in. "Wha- wait did they take anything? Did they leave some kind of threatening message-?"

"No, Ms. Swan, merely what I believe to be a prankster with a set of lock-picking tools lacking a sense of humor. The note was harmless-"

"Wait there was a note? What did it say?" Henry was positively beaming by now, curious to know what it said. Emma, although less surprised and insistent, probably because she was still waking up, looked at her expectantly.

"It said, ' _'cause you're a sky full of stars'_ " Regina shrugged, not giving much thoughts to the words.

"I think," Kathryn piped up with a smile, coming inside with some coffee for the three of them and a hot chocolate for Henry, "that she's got a secret admirer."

"I hardly think a cryptic note and a necklace is the start to someone serenading me." Regina accepted the coffee with a smile

Emma smirked, sipping her own graciously accepted coffee. "But you're wearing it." Trust the woman to get back to her teasing ways at the smallest of things.

"I think, Sheriff, we should worry more about who broke in and why, rather than whether or not I'm wearing a necklace." Despite Regina's attempts and promises to be better, she couldn't help but snark back at the Sheriff, who easily got under her skin.

Fortunately, Kathryn kept quiet on the fact that just this morning, Regina didn't even want to bother with contacting the Sheriff about this, taking her own coffee to sit on the other side of the room.

"Well I'm not Sherlock Holmes, so unless you've got a secret camera installed somewhere, I'm not too sure I can help you reverse-engineer the scene, unless by some miracle our serenading prankster left prints all over the gift and are intact after you touched it."

Leave it to Emma Swan to not back down from a snark challenge. She really had no idea how it was that the one person who had more balls than half her kingdom, enough to be able to snark at her without fear of being pulverized, had to be the daughter of her arch-nemesis, and also who was currently protecting her life against a rogue town. Granted Emma had never truly met her Evil Queen side, but it still stood to bear that she didn't care about who Regina had been in the Enchanted Forest.

Right now though, her pride came before her admiration, and she replied, "Well Sheriff, if I had known you'd go all CSI on this hours ago, I'd have been more careful."

Emma gave her a 'really?' look, eyebrows making Regina want to yell at the insufferable woman. "Maybe it'd have been a better idea if you'd reported the break in right away? Rather than a casual mention 'hours later'?"

Here Regina faltered. Kathryn swung to the rescue... or at least tried to. "Well we thought about contacting you, but Regina believed that giving attention to the prankster would fuel him to keep at it."

If Emma's eyebrows could raise any higher, she was sure they'd be above her hairline by now. "Okay, my bullshit meter just skyrocketed, and probably broke. That's nonsense and you both know it." Emma made her way to Regina's desk, her strides with purpose, determined to find out the truth.

Just then, Henry decided he was bored of the back-and-forth dance they always did, and randomly blurted out that he was going to get his game, mentioning he left it in Regina's car. The kid was smart, leaving something elsewhere so he could ditch an intense moment whenever his 11 year-old head got tired of adult banter, but the tactic was getting overused. Still, Regina reached into her desk to pull out the car keys before handing it over to him.

When the door closed, Emma rounded once again on Regina. "Okay so, I'm waiting."

"I-" How was Regina to explain that this whole situation made her feel weak? Every time someone glared at her, or set out to do serious damage to her, she was reminded that these people would not stop until she was dead. She knew she probably deserved the persecution and verbal punches. But being powerless to get them to see that she was sorry for what she had done, that she was willing to change, and being forced to take all of this punishment reminded her of Mother's teachings, which made her feel even worse.

_'If you let peasants have power over you, let them overtake you, they will use that to their advantage and overthrow you, and a Queen must never allow that to happen. She must also always show she is stronger and more powerful than they could ever be combined. Otherwise she is seen as weak, and Queens can't be weak.'_

And capping it all up, to have the Sheriff being the only one between her and the mob was an even crueler twist, the irony going even deeper knowing it was the daughter of her nemesis. But how could she possibly make Emma understand that?

Fortunately she was saved from having to answer right away when the door burst open, bringing in an awestruck Henry.

"You guys have to see this!" Without waiting for them, he ran back out.

With a careful glance and Emma, Regina rounded her desk, and followed Emma and Kathryn outside, towards the back parking lot where her car was parked.

She kept her car out of the public eye, knowing that the last time she left it out on the front lot, the windows had been smashed. Sure it took more time to get to her car to park it in the back, but it was worth keeping her vehicle intact.

Going outside, ready for anything, she nearly collided onto Kathryn, who was frozen, mouth gaping, staring at where her car should have been parked.

Well, her car was still there, but whereas the surface of her car was originally black, it was now various shades of bright pink. Someone, and Regina could guess that it was the same fool who had given her the necklace she was wearing now, had done this.

"Are those..." Kathryn paused, nearing the car, to where Henry stood with Emma. "Post-its?"

"Yep!" Henry grinned, glancing at his flabbergasted mother.

Regina, for her part, shut her mouth when Henry looked at her, slowly advancing.

The young boy turned back to the car and added, "And not just any post-its, they're heart shaped!"

It was true, the post-its, in three different shades of pink, were all heart shaped. Regina made her way closer to the car, and went around to the front side, which had been facing away from the rest of the group stood, to see if it had been covered with the pink hearts as well. Now that she had taken a good look, she gasped.

The other three, hearing Regina's gasp, rushed over to join her.

The hood of the car was covered in more post-its, but here the decoration was different. Whereas the rest of the car had been a random medley of hearts in different shades, here there was a clear design in mind. The person had covered the base with the lightest post-its, and then made a giant heart that covered the width of the hood with the medium shade, and then, there was a single post it smack in the middle, in the darkest shade.

Regina neared it, and plucked it, noting that right underneath it, rather than being the medium shade, it was the light shade. Clearly they had thought it through that Regina taking the heart would still leave the original design intact somehow.

"There's something written on it!" Henry looked at the post-it on her hand, and with a jolt she saw he was right, she hadn't realized that it was indeed filled with words. In silver ink, the words written made her own heart jump at her throat.

**__**

****_I'm gonna give you my heart._ ** **

 

"Oh yeah, someone is definitely serenading you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that was the first chapter! I'm sorry if it got a bit too much explanation, but I feel like it's worth explaining things so everyone's aware what the situation is.
> 
> So thoughts? Who do you think the serenading person is?
> 
> I'm kind of on fire with this story, wanting to keep writing, but I want to see what people think of the story before going at it full speed.
> 
> Let me know what you think and I'll be updating the story soon!


	2. Mysteries Galore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2!
> 
> Now this chapter is longer than the first one, and just a note, flashbacks or past scenes are in italics, the bold italics are the notes left by our mysterious serenader.
> 
> Hope everyone enjoys this!

_"Oh yeah, someone is definitely serenading you."_

Regina turned and glared at the Sheriff for her little quip, ready to spit out some retort to put Emma in her place, but she couldn't find her voice. Her heart still hadn't recuperated from the butterflies that started flying in her stomach at reading the message in the post-it, and she frowned.

She couldn't possibly be feeling touched by this maniac's gestures could she?

Nonsense.

She shoved those feelings away, into the closet of mushy feelings she had in her head which was never to be opened. Not that those feelings were big or anything. They were minuscule, nonexistent really. Yes, this was probably some kind of reaction of surprise, nothing more.

"Gotta give props to the Serenader, covering your entire car in post-its, that must've taken a while." Kathryn was, as always, diffusing tension, seeing that her friend was having a battle with herself over something.

"Yeah except now we have to take it all down," Emma replied, grumbling.

"Not necessarily." Regina waved her hand, and the three others watched with fascination as Regina managed to lift the cover of post-its right off of the car, and with a flick of her wrist, the cover seemed to have disappeared. But on closer inspection, Regina had actually miniaturized the cover, and held it in her palm, stilling the papers in place to keep their shape.

"Woah." Henry was the first to react, but he wasn't mad or angry at his mother having used magic at all. He was slowly gaining respect for his mother's powers, when not used for evil of course, and he neared her open palm, getting the older woman to lower her hand so it was closer to her son, and he took the shape in his hands gingerly, expecting it to collapse in his hands if he grabbed it too hard. With a concentration that could only come from a kid his age, he tested the limits, and saw the car shape remained intact, almost like it was glued together, and he voiced his discovery.

Regina chuckled, "You could say that... like a magical glue." She ruffled his hair, her expression softening, nearly forgetting Kathryn and Emma were there.

Emma smiled at the scene, not daring to interrupt it. Kathryn however, felt a bit more confident to butt in, asking slyly, "So, you gonna keep it?"

Regina did a double take, staring at the two blonde women as if she just noticed they were there. "I-"

"Can we mom? They might be clues to their identity!" Henry was ready to tackle this mystery completely, he would find out who it was.

Regina merely nodded, not trusting herself to not say anything that might betray her growing interest and curiosity at the Serenader's identity and purpose. Henry grinned at her in response, and went to the field right beside the parking lot, still within the three ladies' sights, playing with his new toy.

After a few seconds of silence, Kathryn voiced Regina's worries. "Now we just have to hope he's not a nut job or anything."

"Well so far their only crime is breaking into Regina's office right?" Emma asked, wanting to get the facts right.

"I suppose covering my car with post-its doesn't count as a criminal act." Regina responded, "So for now yes."

The Sheriff cleared her throat. "So, uh... since this clearly looks like it wasn't and won't be a one-time thing, and in case this Serenader does become a whack job, I'll just take your statements now and ask you some questions, if you two don't mind?"

Neither woman responded negatively, so with that, Emma took out a notepad from her jacket, and a pen from who knows where, poised to write. "So just to get this straight, when Regina came in this morning, the box was already there right? And when was that?"

"Around 8:30 am," Regina replied.

"Okay, and you Kathryn, get here earlier than Regina?"

Kathryn nodded. "Yep, Regina usually drops Henry off and then comes here, but I want to get the mail sorted and Regina's meetings and calls squared away by the time she arrives. So I'm here at around 8 am."

Emma nodded, scribbling in her pad. "And you hadn't noticed anything irregular or weird when you came in? This box wasn't in your mail pile or anything?"

The secretary shook her head. "Not at all, it was just your average Thursday morning."

Emma turned back to Regina, pointing her pen at the Mayor, and asked, "Did you see whether the lock was busted or anything when you came in?"

"No Ms. Swan, as I said before, I believe this Serenader just owns a lock-picking kit, since when I came in there was no indication anything was out of the ordinary."

Emma nodded absentmindedly, still writing. "Okay so, since I wasn't notified in the moment and able to get a good look at the scene before it was tainted," she glared pointedly at the two women, but they saw the twinkle of mischief in her eyes, and they knew she wasn't actually berating them, "we have nothing to go on regarding getting their identity." Emma paused, and then seemed like she remembered something. "Oh! What I can do though, is give Ruby a call, see if she can sniff anything out."

The two nodded, and Emma quickly made a call for her friend, and part-time Deputy, to come help. Due to Emma's affiliation with the ex-Evil Queen, no one was jumping to take up the role of Deputy, leaving Emma to her devices as the sole police force in the town. Thankfully though, Ruby had risen up to the occasion for when Granny's Diner was having a slow day, and helped when she could. Granny hadn't been a fan of the decision, but she, as well as all the denizens in this town, were slowly coming to terms that everyone here had differing opinions about their situation and took their own stances; she was beginning to let it go, albeit extremely grudgingly.

"I'm surprised you didn't think of this earlier Ms. Swan, considering your entire reaction to us taking our time notifying you." Regina couldn't hold back the retort. Sometimes she just couldn't help herself and was just on a short fuse, although she tried to keep a lid on it as best as she could. It didn't help that something about Emma always made her thoughts go awry, and since Regina was the type of woman who detested even the simplest disturbances, having her mind take that reaction didn't get any points of favor to the blonde.

"Give me a break, I'm running on 3 hours of sleep here." Emma responded, having hung up the phone.

Regina would have thought the Sheriff would tack on a comment along the lines of 'because of you no less' in an attempt to guilt-trip her, but was pleasantly surprised when Emma just left it at that. She nodded, not sure what to say, and kept quiet, waiting for a change of topic or anything.

"You know, I'm curious as to how someone was able to do this to your car," Kathryn mused, and at not receiving an answer from either one, added, "I mean, it looks like it'd be a pain to get all of this together, let alone all this morning."

"When was the last time you saw your car?" The Sheriff was poised once more, pen on paper, ready to write the response.

"Since I came in this morning." Regina's response was curt, and just at that moment, Ruby came bounding up to them.

"Hey! So what's going on?"

"Hey Rubes. So to give you the extremely simple version, someone broke into Regina's office to drop off a gift in an attempt to woo Regina."

Said woman was currently blinking, her hand unconsciously going to stroke the star pendant on her neck, struck by the Sheriff's extremely blunt synopsis of her situation.

Ruby, missing the point completely, turned to Regina and smirked. "Oooh someone's got an admirer? Who's the lucky guy?...Or gal, whatever you're into."

Now Regina was truly baffled. She hadn't actually thought about it. During her long reign as Queen, she had enjoyed the company of both men and women, and who was to say this particular suitor was a man?

Emma had responded Ruby's question for her, looking at the Mayor's odd expression with concern, but made no mention of it now. "We don't know, that's why we called you. We were hoping you might be able to sniff them out?"

"Sure thing boss." Ruby went inside, and Kathryn followed her, leaving both of Henry's mothers alone, the Mayor still silent.

"Regina?" Emma tried testing the waters, and was rewarded with a little jump as the other woman seemed to land back on earth. "Are you okay? You seem a little bit out of it... heck, you've been a little bit out of it the entire time."

Regina cleared her throat, avoiding eye contact with the younger woman. "I'm fine Sheriff Swan-"

Emma scoffed, "Lie detector, remember? Try again Madam Mayor."

Regina sighed, willing the gods to grant her patience to get through this day without doing something she'd regret. "Very well, if you insist, I'm merely trying to figure out what angle this Serenader could have in this ridiculous scheme."

"Apart from declaring their undying love for you?" Ruby came back smirking with Kathryn in tow.

"Like I've reiterated countless times today Ms. Lucas, I have my doubt anyone in this town feels anything remotely akin to  _that_  regarding me."

"Whatever makes you sleep at night Madam Mayor." Ruby put up her hands in a placating gesture of surrender, dropping the subject.

"So, find anything?" Emma asked, turning to her friend.

Ruby shook her head. "Not even a whiff. Just the four of us and Henry."

"Could it be because of the amount of time that passed? The Serenader probably dropped it off in the morning or late last night." Emma looked like she was wracking her brains to think up of a solution.

"Yeah, probably that. Wait, why did you wait so long to call me then?" Ruby asked, turning to each woman, accusatory glances headed to them.

"Well the Mayor and her secretary here didn't think it important to let me know until a little while ago, and I just remembered your 'skills' a few minutes ago." She ignored the intense glare Regina was throwing at her for her quip; at Ruby's raised eyebrow, she added, "Oh come on, I'm running on a couple of hours of sleep and then some, plus a ton of caffeine; remembering that my friend within a town of fairy tales has super-human smelling skills because she can turn into a wolf is definitely not something I'll easily remember."

She had a point, and everyone quieted at that. They could hardly blame her, she was trying her best, which was more than could be said for most of the town.

Henry chose now to come running back, "Hi Ruby!"

"Hey Henry! Whatcha got there?" She gestured to the small pink car cover her was holding.

"Oh this was from the Serenader!" Henry smiled at her, holding up the car so she could get a closer look at it.

Now Ruby was confused. "Wait, you mean to tell me this secret admirer broke into the Mayor's office just so they could drop off a miniature car shell made out of the tiniest pink heart-shaped post-its glued together?"

Emma jumped in before her friend officially went crazy trying to piece this one together. "How about I explain it to you on the way back? Henry has to start his homework and I'm sure Regina has to get back to work."

No one countered that plan, not even Henry, running up to his mother and Kathryn to say bye for now. He would see the former tonight, but he still gave her a tight hug nonetheless.

As they walked, Emma explained how the whole thing went, adding little comments that she knew she couldn't voice in front of the Mayor. Henry was walking a bit further ahead, giving the two friends time to talk.

"So, who came up with the name 'Serenader'?" Ruby asked, again missing the bigger picture.

After a beat, Emma shrugged, "No idea, I think we just started calling them that."

"Well, it's catchy, I like it. Now we just have to put a face to the name."

"Something tells me it won't be that easy," Emma sighed, wondering how this entire thing would pan out

* * *

Later that night, after Regina had cooked them a wonderful meal, Emma was clearing things away in the kitchen, while Regina sat with Henry in the living room. Their apartment was relatively large, large enough that they had an extra room big enough to accommodate Regina with them, even though at the time they bought the place, neither Henry nor Emma knew Regina would be staying with them.

Emma smiled as Henry grabbed a piece of paper and mentioned he was starting a list of suspects, crossing them off when they could provide an alibi.

"Hey ma, where were you this morning?" Henry turned to Emma, looking super serious as he asked his question.

Emma decided to at least deign his son with concrete details that could provide her with a pretty busy alibi. "I was helping Mr. Nelson take out the hatchet that someone had wedged into his work-bench. Apparently someone had a party cutting down a bunch of his trees during the night, and you know Mr. Nelson, sleeps like the logs he works with, and they just stole everything. Poor guy was devastated, months of work and dedication gone, and I spent the rest of the day trying to find his things, no luck. Where someone could hide some 15 or so entire tree trunks and other logs without anyone in a small town noticing is beyond me."

Regina had been listening intently, brow furrowing. "And there were no leads?"

Emma shook her head, "Nothing definite. I mean we're dealing with someone strong, 'cause let me tell you, it was not easy taking that thing out. Maybe also a group of people... there's no way a single person, no matter how strong they are, could take those trees and logs all by themselves in an entire night after cutting them all down."

Regina tried to wrack her brain, seeing if she could figure out who it could be that had that skill set.

"Just humour me for a bit...we don't have a Hercules or any of those other Greek mythology guys right?"

Regina smiled despite herself. "No, we're limited to just fairy tales."

"Okay good, I wouldn't want to deal with _that_ headache. So, know any super-strong beings that could pull this off?"

"None off the top of my head. I'd have to research more into who I brought to Storybrooke."

"How about you, Ace Detective, any leads on this mystery I'm working on?" Emma grinned, she was having way too much fun with this.

The young boy shook his head. His body then betrayed him by letting out a yawn, and Regina fussed around that he should head to bed, especially since tomorrow was a school day, and that he would have plenty of time to sleep during the weekend.

Henry went grudgingly, wanting to finish his suspects list, but Regina was having none of it. Once she came back from getting Henry to bed, Emma had already finished cleaning up, and was now sitting on the couch. Regina went to sit on the same couch, but of course keeping a respectable distance.

"Seems like Storybrooke is turning into a frenzy of mysteries lately," Emma said after a couple of moments of silence.

Regina scoffed, "Beats having everyone focused on ways to kill me."

Emma cleared her throat, shuffling uncomfortably. "I- Well, Regina, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I doubt whoever stole those trees was doing it to fulfill some kind of woodworking fetish."

Regina, understanding what the other woman was referring to, began fidgeting with her hands, a nervous habit she had that her mother had detested and tried in multiple ways with no success to get her to drop. She had heard that this world had a nasty way of dealing with witches, burning them at stakes and all, and could imagine some of the citizens of Storybrooke might've wanted to keep that tradition going.

"Hey," Emma reached over and grabbed Regina's hands, covering them with her own. "Don't worry about it, I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to you, and I'm sticking to that promise. If anyone wants to get at you, they'll have to go through me first, and I won't go down without a good fight."

Regina looked up at her, willing her body to not betray her. Her emotions thankfully stayed in check, and she managed a small smile in return. Thinking on it, she remembered that the very first night in this apartment had also had the two women in similar positions.

* * *

_Regina had just put Henry to bed, and found the younger woman in the living room, standing with her hands in her jean's back pockets, looking at her expectantly. Regina wasn't sure how she made it through today, her mind still reeling at seeing her house for the past three decades in such a state. She could hardly call it a house after the number the hate-filled residents had pulled. Now she had to go out and find a place to stay, which would prove hard since Granny wasn't her biggest fan, and wouldn't allow her to rent a room at the Inn._

_She had tried so hard not to cry, but by now her defense was weakening, resolve faltering, and her mayoral mask, ever passive and consistent, gone. She felt strong arms around her, and Regina didn't care that she was in the arms of Snow White's daughter; she needed this._

_After a few minutes of silence, where Regina sobbed quietly, and Emma held her, gently rocking back and forth, feet shifting weight, they separated. However, Regina stopped stepping back as Emma's hands rested on her shoulders, and held her there._

_"Look Regina, I know we haven't always seen eye to eye, and we're probably the farthest thing from friends, but I promise you, no one's going to hurt you. I will do everything in my power to make sure this town reins their vitriol in. I'll have a talk with everyone tomorrow, and hopefully they'll respect the word of the law more than their burning hatred, okay?"_

_Regina could barely react. She nodded meekly. Certainly Henry had put her up to this, but she was glad that the Sheriff at least humored her son enough to say this._

_"Also, while you get your home renovated and all that jazz, you're more than welcome to stay here. This apartment has an extra room so-"_

_"Ms. Swan, while I appreciate the offer, I couldn't possibly impose further." She then jerked back, forcing Emma to let her shoulders go. She wasn't someone people would take pity on, and she'd be damned if she let anyone treat her as such._

_Two could play at this game, and Emma was getting tired of the other woman acting like she was bullet-proof, and nothing bothered her. "Regina, I know you've got this entire Evil Queen 'image' to uphold, but will you look at the situation with some common sense for just one second? You're in a town where most of the people in it either hate your guts or wouldn't shed a tear if you died. You have no home, and no one in Storybrooke is selling or leasing, and even if they were, I'm positive they wouldn't sell to you. I'm here offering you a house where you can live for as long as needed, and you can see our son on a regular basis, so will you let your pride take the fall and just accept it?"_

_Regina was sure that if she had any less fine motor control, her jaw would've dropped. Emma could certainly make a hell of an argument, and after a few seconds mentally debating the pros and cons, she accepted the offer._

* * *

The two women had reached a happy rhythm ever since Regina had moved in, knowing that for the foreseeable future, they would be living together. Although it had taken Regina a bit of time to get used to the blonde as an ally, and getting into the mindset that Emma wasn't taking advantage of this fiasco to try and whisk Henry away, she was secretly glad to have the other woman to count on for anything, even if most of the time the Sheriff managed to drive her insane with her insufferable attitude and quips.

Thankfully that attitude allowed for Regina to keep considering the Sheriff as only a bearable ally, and nothing else. She had enough to deal with without also having to consider what the young woman meant to her.

She saw that their hands were still together, and found that she didn't find this feeling unpleasant. However, it was getting late, and she needed sleep. She reclaimed her hands, feeling a pang as her hands left the comfort of the Savior's, and cleared her throat. "I should be heading to sleep."

Emma nodded, "Yeah, and I gotta head out for night duty-"

"You can't possibly be considering going back out, Ms. Swan."

"Careful Regina, someone might get the impression you care about me."

Regina spluttered a bit, something outright shocking to both women, since Regina never spluttered, causing her to turn a few shades of red at the fact.

"Don't worry your secret's safe with me, your Majesty." Emma was trying to cover up her laughter with her hand as to not wake Henry, but it was proving hard every time she looked at Regina's flaming cheeks.

Regina, in a poor attempt to change the subject back to neutral ground, said "Whatever the case, you're not going back out in a sleep-deprived state."

Emma, once her laughter had died down, shook her head. "Believe me Regina, there's nothing I'd want more than go to sleep and not wake up for another day or so, but no can do. Evil never sleeps."

Regina smirked, "Well Ms. Swan, in that case you have nothing to worry about, since 'evil' is right here and is planning on having a good night's sleep."

The Sheriff rolled her eyes, smiling, "Well look who has a sense of humor."

"Well, if you won't do it with consideration to your well-being, then I, as your boss, am ordering you to stay in tonight."

"Seriously?" Emma's expression was one of total disbelief. "Look, I'm only going to be working till noon, Ruby already said she'd cover for me in the afternoon alright?"

"You're telling me that Ruby will take your shift right in the middle of Friday rush?" It was well known that everyone in town went to Granny's on Friday in anticipation of the weekend.

"Yeah, she managed to rope Belle into taking her shift at the diner."

"And who's taking care of things at the library?"

"Still under renovations, so there's no need for her to be there."

"Yes, of course. Having the Dark One as your boyfriend must make it a lot easier to get renovations done on your property." Regina could hardly help the venom that accompanied her statement, but it was still damning to think about it. The Dark Curse had been his, but since she was the one to enact it, she was seen as solely responsible for causing this entire ordeal, and he was left untouched, believed to be a victim of the curse like everyone else.

Emma didn't know what to say, and was thankfully saved from doing so by her phone buzzing. "Sheriff's department-"

Regina could hear someone talking hurriedly, along with some very loud sneezes.

"Okay, I'll be right there Tom- uh Sneezy." Emma shook her head and hung up the phone. "I never know if I should call people by their cursed name or what."

Regina smiled, but her smile faltered as she remembered what she had told the pharmacist. "You're going out?"

"Yeah, apparently someone robbed but didn't rob him."

Regina was confused. "How does that happen?"

"Well, they took some of his merchandise, but they gave him the money for it."

"What did they steal?"

"Heart-shaped pink post-its."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was the second chapter!
> 
> Man the Serenader has a streak of badness in them huh? Plus the tree thieves? Yikes!
> 
> I was going to make this chapter go until the next morning and the next note, but I just kept writing scenes with these two crazy idiots, and I think otherwise I'll just bore people with the length.
> 
> Thank you once again for all the reviews and everything, let me know what you think!


	3. Flattery Will get you Anywhere

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The updates keep on coming!
> 
> Just a couple of notes that I kept on forgetting to mention, I will be shifting around some show canon to fit my story, but if it does happen, I will mention it. Mainly I have Henry be a little bit more understanding because Regina was his mother for nearly his entire life and took care of him and he was a bit harsh on her in the show, and I feel that Regina would've talked to him to clear the air.
> 
> Also, let me know how you're liking the pacing of the story, and characterization. Is it good, bad, slow, fast?
> 
> Enjoy this new chapter as things start hitting off!

As her alarm rang, Regina let out a groan. She wasn't exactly what you'd call a morning person, especially after so many years of having to wrangle Henry out of bed and ready for school; though he made her look like a morning person considering his comatose tendencies, and semi zombie-like state.

Thankfully, she was no longer alone in having to deal with Henry in the morning, and smiled into her pillow at the sound of breakfast being made. Her smile faltered at the realization that she practically admitted to herself that she enjoyed having a domestic relationship with Emma Swan. She groaned, all this lovey-dovey nonsense with the Serenader was making her soft.

As Regina made her way to the kitchen some minutes later, she saw Emma flipping a pancake with ease, a plate with more pancakes by her side on the counter, and Henry was sitting on a chair in front of the table, using his empty plate as a pillow, although Regina couldn't see how that could even be remotely comfortable.

"Morning Regina, sleep well?" Emma smiled as she set down the pan and made her way to the table, trying to figure out how to exactly extract the plate from under Henry.

"Quite well, Ms. Swan, your-" Regina faltered, looking at the other woman's bags under her eyes, and now taking in the fact that Emma was fully dressed, rather than in pajamas as she normally would wear, drawing the conclusion herself. The woman hadn't gotten a wink of sleep, and had just come in from her shift to help with breakfast, then probably head out again once they were finished.

"My what?" Emma paused from her spot, looking at the older woman curiously.

"Nothing." She made her way to Henry and placed a hand softly on his back, rubbing circles in order to slowly wake him up. "Henry honey, wake up."

"I dunwanno" Henry mumbled, trying to shift out from under Regina's hand in order to go back to sleep. She sat down on the chair beside him, still rubbing his back.

Emma smirked, and joined in, "Well, if you won't, I guess you won't be having these pancakes..."

Henry shot up like he'd been electrocuted, a new-found source of energy fueling him. Emma managed to triumphantly swipe out the plate now that it was free, and served the pancakes, grabbing the plate in front of Regina and filling it up as well. Once she was done with that, Emma started pouring coffee, noting that the Sheriff was serving herself a hearty amount, clearly needing it to survive the final hours of her shift.

Henry practically wolfed down his pancakes, the syrup sticking to his face, and Regina sent him to the bathroom to wash up as soon as he was done.

After a few minutes of more silence, because breakfast in this house was always deathly quiet, Regina finally spoke up after Emma once again tried to hide a yawn.

"Ms. Swan, I must insist that you head to sleep."

Emma groaned, "Regina when are you going to drop it? I'm not heading to sleep until noon, when Ruby ends her shift and will be able to take over at the station."

"I will not have the town's only police force out of commission because she's working herself to death by exhaustion!" Where this anger and protectiveness had emerged from, Regina didn't know, but she went with it.

"And what exactly would you have done if I hadn't been able to stop some delinquents from trying to harm Ashley, Sean and Alexandra?"

Regina faltered here. "W-what?"

"You heard me." At the mayor's unasked question, Emma explained, "I'm not too sure why they picked them, I'm guessing easy targets. I got there just in time."

"Who was it?"

"Wayward Gang. You know how they are, and they can sure pack a punch." Emma unconsciously moved a hand to rub her stomach, flinching a bit at the contact.

Regina was beginning to see red. "Did they hurt you?"

Emma shook her head, "Nothing major."

"Let me see."

"It's fine Regina, Whale patched me up-"

"Now."

Like a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar, Emma gave a small pout, in a last ditch attempt to sway the older woman. At having no success, she lifted her shirt a bit to reveal bandage wrapping around her chest. Regina's eyes narrowed. This wasn't a simple punch to the gut.

"Someone stabbed you."

Emma lowered her shirt, rolling her eyes."And they're currently inside a cell getting lectured by David and Mary Margaret, with Leroy standing guard with Granny's crossbow."

"Who is?" Henry had just come back, fully dressed with his backpack on, looking curiously between his two mothers.

Emma smiled. "Just some bad people, Henry. But you have to get going to school." Looking at the distant look in Regina's eyes, she added, "How about I take you, kid? Give your mom some time to get ready and everything?"

Henry always welcomed more time to spend with his biological mother, and went to wait for her at the door.

The younger woman sighed, Regina still hadn't said a word to her. She opened and closed her mouth various times, willing words to come out, and yet nothing happened. She finally resigned herself that she couldn't say anything to the brunette, at least nothing that wouldn't result in making a fool of herself because the blonde was an expert at shoving her foot in her mouth, especially in front of the Mayor.

With a last look, she turned and left the apartment with Henry in tow, leaving Regina to her own devices.

Regina meanwhile, started to feel a deep anger boiling inside her, one she hadn't felt in a really long while - not even when she had seen her house torn to shambles - and her hands started to shake. She grabbed the coffee cup Emma had deposited in front of her earlier in an attempt to quell her hands, but it was no use.

Gripping the cup with her right hand, she whipped around and threw it across the room, coffee flying everywhere and the cup shattering into a million pieces on contact with the wall, any leftover coffee that had survived the trip was now staining the wall brown.

* * *

Once Regina arrived at the office, she frowned at seeing that her friend wasn't in yet. She looked at the clock on the wall, noting it was already 8:15. She shrugged it off, chalking it up to probably just a long line-up at Granny's. As she made her way to the door of her office she heard someone approaching, and saw Kathryn all but stumble through the door, carrying the mail and her coffee in one hand, and on the other hand, a stuffed teddy bear, and the keys she used to open the door.

Regina smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Is it an anniversary or is Jim feeling particularly romantic?"

Kathryn shook her head, and extended her arm with the bear towards Regina. "It's from the Serenader."

Regina barely registered the words. After the disaster that was breakfast this morning, she just wanted this day to be over, to curl up in her bed and just not come out again. She was feeling overwhelmed to say the least, she didn't need anything more to be added to her already hectic life. She gingerly took the bear from her secretary.

The bear was simple, a honey brown colour, sporting an adorable little expression with beady eyes that made her heart melt. the little bear itself had a star stitched to its hands, so it looked like it was holding it. In simple block writing, there were words stitched onto the star itself.

**_'Cause you're a sky full of stars_ **

Kathryn, having deposited the rest of her things on her desk, glanced over Regina's shoulder to see the bear in more detail. "Aren't those the same words as yesterday?"

Regina nodded. "Seems like our Serenader is running out of ideas, and it's only the second day."

"Maybe it's a poem? And the stanzas are getting repeated?" Kathryn shrugged, and then offered a smile, coming to stand in front of her friend. "Well, at the very least, it's cute."

Regina could barely hide the smile and small blush that crept up. Yes, it was a sweet gesture, and Regina couldn't find it in her heart to lie and say the bear wasn't completely adorable. "Yes, I suppose so."

Kathryn's smile grew wider, nudging her friend playfully. "Well look who's getting smitten by a secret admirer."

Regina lightly smacked her friend, "Oh shush you. Don't forget, this Serenader is a delinquent that broke into my office, and the pharmacy."

Kathryn did a double take at the new information. "Oh?"

"Yes, apparently they broke into the pharmacy to buy heart-shaped post-its and left money at the till." Regina shook her head, willing her feelings of fondness for the Serenader to go away. "Hopefully the Sheriff's station manages to catch this thief before they rob this town blind."

The blonde scoffed. "If the town doesn't lynch him first."

"What?"

"Apparently word got out about the Serenader, and no one seems to be too excited about it. It's mainly why I took so long to get here, everyone is at Granny's Diner to hear some more gossip about who is the mysterious person that is apparently smitten with you."

Regina frowned. She had hoped this wouldn't become town gossip but it was futile in thinking that; after all, covering her entire car with pink post-its wasn't exactly implying subtlety was part of this lunatic's M.O. "Did they question you?"

Kathryn nodded. "They were under the impression you had grabbed some poor soul to be your scapegoat, as a sort of big plan to humanize you. One was convinced you had spiked someone's drink with love potion down at the Rabbit Hole."

Regina was flabbergasted. Was this how it was going to be from now on? Everyone trying to find an ulterior motive to everything that she did or that might surround her?

The secretary noted the silence, and cleared her throat. "So, should I save us the lecture and call Emma now?"

Regina meekly nodded, and without another word, went into her office and closed the door, not even focused enough to pick up her mail. But, Kathryn noticed with a smile, the little teddy bear was still safely in Regina's arms.

* * *

Emma's morning was hectic. It was as if the universe knew that she was practically running on nothing due to severe lack of sleep, her crazy schedule, not to mention being skewered, and therefore decided to keep testing her limits.

First the whole Serenader business had her running around town.

Then she also had to keep an eye out to try and find the tree thieves that took Mr. Nelson's property yesterday, and discover what exactly their purpose is with more than a dozen tree trunks.

Now she had the Wayward Gang all locked up and having their rights read to them by David and Mary Margaret, with Leroy as their warden.

As if all of that wasn't enough, she was now fielding calls because somehow, news of the Serenader had gotten out - she could bet a month's salary she knew who exactly spilled the beans - and would be having a stern talk to her part time deputy on the meaning of sensitive matters and how to deal with them.

"...but Sheriff! You can't allow for that- that  _monster_  to keep stringing around some poor soul like that! You need to start preparing a committee that will take care of the misguided man and get them to confiscate all the evils that woman has hidden away, and then lock  _her_  up!"

Emma was sure that if Ms. Nesbitt had been in front of her, she would've had a very hard time trying to keep from slapping her. Taking a deep breath, she put on her best diplomatic voice as she replied, "Look, Ms. Nesbitt, I understand that you're apprehensive about Regina, but will you  _please_  just let me do my job? I will get to the bottom of this, and I can assure you, whoever it is: man, woman or something in between, that if they are for some reason under some sort of influence, we will cure them of it. How does that sound?"

Ms. Nesbitt was very much  _not_  okay with this, yelling about the devil and witches and evils in the world. Emma ungraciously hung up on her. She'd later claim the line got cut, because Mrs. Nesbitt  _would_  call back, but Ruby could deal with her, she'd call it punishment for having let the news get out. She groaned, very loudly, sinking her head into her desk. Maybe she could just close her eyes for a couple of seconds...

_KNOCK KNOCK._

David was at the door, and although it was open, he stood by the entrance waiting for her permission to enter.

"Hey, did the Wayward idiots piss themselves already or?" Emma smirked. She had to leave the room when Ms. Nesbitt had called, right when the jailed delinquents were being given a long list of their crimes, and punishment for each of them.

David smiled, chuckling. "Suffice it to say they're begging for forgiveness."

"How nice." Emma returned the smile in kind, and then it faltered as the air grew awkward around them.

It wasn't that David and Mary Margaret were bad people, and heck, if 20 years ago she had been placed in a home with them, she'd have believed she was in heaven. But that was exactly her problem. She was 28 years old, she had finally gotten over her complex over not having parents, and finding out that they were very much alive and wanted nothing more than to engulf her into their lives had her internally panicking.

She wasn't cut out for this kind of thing, all of that without considering the whole fairytale aspect of it. Now  _that_  was just a one-way ticket to insanity.

David cleared his throat, "So, who was that?"

"Ms. Nesbitt. She practically wants to exorcise the entire town and Regina to cleanse the town of evil and witchcraft."

"The secret admirer nonsense?"

Emma nodded. "Yep."

David shrugged his shoulders, "I'm sure it'll die down eventually. Probably someone who was in love with her during the curse and hasn't been able to shake it off."

Emma made a noncommittal noise. Clearly no one believed that Regina could even be loved.

"Well anyway, Mary Margaret and I have to be heading off, Leroy'll keep guard while they're still here."

Emma turned back to her desk, thinking the discussion to be over. Mary Margaret had made her way to her husband, standing beside him by the door. She said something hushed to him and David cleared his throat.

"Emma..." Emma could just hear that David was trying to figure out how to word things, and she knew just what the topic would be about. They had vaguely tried to find a way to approach the topic peacefully in the past; this time it seemed they decided to just go for the direct route. It took all her willpower to not snap the pencil in her hand. This was great, all that she needed to tack on to a great week.

Mary Margaret took over for him, seeing her was getting nowhere. "David and I were wondering...we know that this must've come as a shock to you, finding your parents, and we want to get to know you! And we're sure you want to get to know us-"

Emma decided to kill that idea before it could get any further. She  _really_  didn't need this. "Look, I'm really not in the mood for-"

Apparently no one would be getting to have their say on the matter as the phone rang. Emma silently counted to 10, willing her patience to deal with the caller, who was probably Ms. Nesbitt coming to tear up a storm. She was pleasantly surprised to hear Kathryn on the line.

"Everything alright?" Emma had an inkling of what the subject was about, but always better to ask first.

"Yeah, it's just that the Serenader dropped off another gift, thought it would be better to call you now rather than do a repeat of yesterday."

Emma chuckled. "Well it's step forward from yesterday. I'll be there in five."

Having hung up with the secretary, Emma glanced up, seeing her supposed parents still standing in the doorway. It wasn't hard to think of them as friends, but parents was a very far cry from that. She really wasn't ready to consider them as anything more than just  friends, and that conversation would really have to wait for another time.

"Look uhm, duty calls and all that."

David looked worried. "Is everything alright? Something I can help with?"

Emma shook her head. "Nah, just Regina's mysterious Serenader dropped off another gift."

"Emma..." Mary Margaret took a deep breath. Last time they tried to breach this topic about Regina, things had ended badly between the family, and led to Emma moving out of the house. "I know you're the Sheriff, but Regina's dangerous, and for all we know this could be another plot to take revenge on us-"

Emma really didn't have time for this either, and heading for the other door, yanked it open and slammed it behind her, heading outside, but the two royals weren't done yet.

"Emma if you'd just listen-"

"No!" She whipped around to face them, pointing an accusatory finger at them, "I have listened ad nauseum to this town preach about Regina's downright evilness from one thousand different perspectives, and you know what? I don't see it! I see a woman trying to make amends, but gets all of that thrown back at her face because no one in this town is able to move on from their little makeshift fairytale ideal of how the world works!

"You guys all need to understand that in this world, there's no such thing as good or evil. The whole world is just morally gray, and everyone fluctuates between the two depending on what's more convenient. I refuse to believe that my new roommate isn't capable of changing,  _especially_  if it's for Henry. I know that she was the Evil Queen in your world, but in this one, she's Regina Mills. I don't care if I have to step in front of a bullet for you guys to get it through your thick fairytale skulls, but I refuse to let  _anyone_  hurt anyone else in this town, and  _especially_  not Regina Mills, is that clear?"

The entire station was quiet, even the six members of the Wayward Gang, split between the two sole cells in the station, were muted.

The first person to break the silence was someone no one had noticed coming inside.

"Man, if policing doesn't work out for you Em, you can always turn to public speaking, you rock at it!" Ruby, sporting a wolf-like grin, had been recording the entire speech with her phone, and was currently saving it for future occasions.

Emma grumbled, and without another word, she grabbed her deputy by the arm and dragged her outside and towards the cruiser, heading to Town Hall.

* * *

Kathryn looked up as the doors were literally slammed open, and saw none other than Emma stalk inside, the scowl set on her face looking like nothing she'd seen before from the usually friendly woman, and a worried Ruby trailing behind. Taking charge of the situation, she asked, "Everything alright? I hope I didn't pull you away from anything important."

Emma shook her head, reeling her anger back in. "Not at all."

"More like you prevented her from word-slamming the entire station." Ruby was sniggering. Emma gave her a pointed look that in no uncertain terms told her that if she said one more word, her career as a deputy would be very short and end very fast. And she still hadn't even lectured her for having ran her mouth about the Serenader.

Kathryn was sure there was a story there, but for now she had more important matters to attend to. "Regina's inside, but I warn you, she's a bit stressed."

Emma and Ruby nodded, and walked over to Regina's door. As Kathryn let the Mayor know they had arrived, Regina was taking a deep breath, trying to will her emotions to not get the better of her.

"Alright Regina, what did the Serenader drop off this time?" Emma sauntered into the room with Ruby in tow.

"A teddy bear, holding a star and the same words from yesterday." Regina extended the arm holding the bear to give to the Sheriff.

Ruby tried to sniff the bear, but no success; this guy must be good. "Must be a poem."

Regina nodded, "My thoughts exactly."

"Seriously? Does  _no one_  in this town listen to music?"

"The diner plays music all the time, I just keep tuning it out," Ruby replied, shrugging.

" _Really?_  You have super hearing and you can tune things out?" Emma turned to face the wolf, skepticism all over her face.

Ruby shrugged, "Superman does it."

Before the conversation could derail further, because the last thing Regina was in the mood for was to keep hearing these two hold conversation in her office, she said in a clipped tone, "Ms. Swan, why do you ask? Do you recognize the words?"

"Yeah, it's a new song by Coldplay, you guys never heard of it?"

Ruby's eyes widened. "Oh!  _I have!_  Ridley is obsessed with the song and plays it on the radio all the time!"

Regina couldn't be less amused. "It honestly took you that long to connect the dots? What kind of a police force am I funding when they take an entire day to figure this out?"

"The only police force you have?" Ruby had had her own fair share of morning madness and wasn't any less grouchy. The customers at the Diner had driven her insane, and she knew she had a long day ahead of her.

Regina's eyes narrowed. She didn't have time to deal with this. "Well Ms. Lucas-"

"Okay!" Emma interrupted in a loud and chipper voice, gathering everyone's attention. Once she was sure they were listening, she continued, "we established the Serenader is using song lyrics. They know how to sew, even if it's amateur-ish, and they're not afraid to break the law, but will still pay for their merchandise."

"That paints a lovely picture Sheriff. I'm glad to know I attract all the right people." Regina once again couldn't keep the bite out of her voice. She remembered last night and added, "What did happen when you went to the pharmacy?"

Emma shrugged. "What was expected. Completely confused store owner who hadn't even realized he had been swiped, only realized it after he closed up shop and was counting his earnings, and he spotted some extra money wrapped in an elastic band, with a post-it note saying 'thank you'. This one, however, was your average yellow square post-it, so at the very least they're not trying to woo Sneezy."

"Wonderful, I'd hate to have to compete against him."

"Full of snark this morning, Madam Mayor." Ruby wasn't really helping her case, but Regina thankfully took it in stride.

"Yes well, I had a hearty serving this morning after your boss explained her escapade last night."

"Oh yeah, ouch." Ruby turned to her friend, "How're you feeling?"

"Like I was stabbed." Emma deadpanned.

"I imagined as much." Ruby gave her friend a gentle nudge. "But seriously, if you want to call it a day, I can take over from here, Belle came early and already took over my shift. Plus, no offense, but you look like shit, you clearly need sleep."

"See Ms. Swan? I'm not the only one who thinks you need some well-deserved rest. I'm sure Ms. Lucas will keep this town safe." Regina smirked at the blonde, but it was a playful smirk, something Ruby had never thought the Mayor could pull off.

"Fine fine, but call me if shit starts hitting the fan."

"Will do boss."

After making sure there were no more clues to gather from the bear, they decided it was time to leave. Ruby, being closer to the door, was already by Kathryn's desk outside before Regina remembered something.

"Oh, and Ms. Swan?"

Emma paused from her way out the door, turning around to face the Mayor. "Yeah?"

"Come here."

Emma raised an eyebrow, but did as she was asked, coming to stand behind the chairs in front of Regina's desk.

The older woman stood up and made her way to the blonde. "Raise your shirt."

Emma was sure she heard wrong. "W-what?"

"Your shirt, Ms. Swan. I don't see why you have to keep dealing with that awful wound, and yes," Regina could see Emma was about to protest, and decided to beat her to it, "I can see you wince when you walk. So I will heal you."

Emma was flabbergasted. She didn't say a word as she raised her shirt a bit, and let Regina work her magic, feeling relief instantly.

* * *

When Emma entered the apartment, the first thing she noticed was that there was a barely noticeable coffee stain on the wall. Had Regina thrown her mug? She made a mental note to ask her about it tonight, as well as continuing to remind herself to have a talk with Ruby about the whole spilling the beans on the Serenader.

She finally had peace and quiet, having just survived talking to Mrs. Goose, the dotty old apartment neighbour, who was delighted that someone was once again attempting to fix the entrance way lights. Ever since forever, the path leading up to the apartment building had been lacking any kind of lights, but the patio lights that the residents had tried again and again to install would never work. Every now and then some valiant soul attempted to try it, but every time it ended in failure.

But now someone else had started their attempts, and Mrs. Goose was excited to see what would happen tonight since they only turned on when it was dark out. Emma had assured the woman she'd be on the lookout to see what happened, and barely escaped without having to start another topic of conversation.

She now made a beeline for her bed, barely remembering to take off her boots and jacket, and practically fell asleep right away. She didn't even remember to take out the bandages still covering her stomach, but she knew she was fully healed.

* * *

Regina was ready for this day to end. She had spent the entire day waiting for the second shoe to drop, waiting to see what else the Serenader had for her. But there was nothing. Perhaps the town had scared him off? She hoped not. Wait, why was she all of a sudden worried about him? Or her? There were too many questions and too many variables to even consider falling for them, not to mention the nagging voice at the back of her head that kept reminding her she was the Evil Queen, and evil never got their happy endings, especially not in a town that hated her.

She wasn't going to come in to the office during the weekend, on account of her trying to keep fixing up her house, so she had stayed in late to do any work that she had left over so that come Monday she wouldn't be overwhelmed with too much paperwork.

As she wrapped everything up, she noticed that it was already dark outside. How time had flown. She hoped Emma had gotten some sleep and fed their child, otherwise Henry would be very hungry by now. She shook her head. Here she was again, imagining a wonderfully domestic situation with Emma, as if they were...no, she couldn't think in those terms. Emma was obviously just doing their son a favour, nothing more.

She made sure the doors were locked and made her way to her car, where it was waiting, no special notes or anything.

Coming home, she parked her car in the lot and made her way up the walkway. After taking a few steps, something by her feet lit up. Taking a look down, she saw that two patio lights, one on either side of her, had lit up as she passed by them. Someone had finally fixed the lights it seems. She had to remember to somehow commend whoever had fixed it once and for all.

As she continued walking, more lights kept turning on. It seemed almost...magical, and the irony was not lost on her. As she neared the door to enter the building, the last set of lights that lit up were both to her right side. Curious, she turned, and her heart skipped a beat. A little ways beyond the two set of lights, in some kind of fluorescent paint, the grass was painted with words.

_**'Cause you light up the path** _

The other shoe dropped, and she couldn't be more flattered. At the end of the word path, a lily flower stem lay beside it, the pink tips also with their own like-coloured fluorescent paint.

She picked the flower up and smiled. Even if the Serenader turned to be a hoax, this was still one of the sweetest gestures she had ever seen.

* * *

Once the next day had rolled around, Regina was still extremely giddy. Henry was convinced that his mother had been replaced with a robot.

The kid had whispered to Emma conspiratorially, knowing fully that his other mother was listening. "Check her for wires ma!" They had had a good laugh over it, Regina getting into the spirit of the joke and even acting a bit robotic to humour Henry.

But truly, Regina really was just herself. It had just been a really long time since she had a reason to feel this happy, and she couldn't even thank whoever it was.

As the three went to work on the mansion, they noted that the Serenader hadn't left them anything.

"Maybe he's busy on weekends?" Henry mused.

"Probably, but then again, so are we. Come on let's see if we can't clear up your room from the debris." Emma then raced Henry into the house, and Regina smiled, slowly following them in.

They had decided to first clear out all the damaged parts of the house and then start to fix everything.

The day had gone by, and not one message had appeared, neither on Sunday.

However, the citizens of Storybrooke only got more and more riled up with the silence. Although Emma had had a talk with Ruby about keeping quiet on the Serenader stuff, it was futile; this person wasn't one for subtlety, and the late night message in front of their apartment had travelled the town like wildfire, especially with Mrs. Goose spreading the news to everyone that would listen to her.

* * *

 

When Monday came around, Regina was wondering if there would be any messages waiting for her by the time she got to her office. She hoped the Serenader wasn't scared off by the town, though she was simultaneously surprised by their bravery and persistence.

Having reached her office with no notes, she couldn't help by feel a bit disappointed, but on Friday the Serenader also took their time to give her the last note, so she would just have to wait.

And she didn't have to wait long. Kathryn, once again late, came in with a grin on her face, her coffee in one hand and the mail on her other hand as usual.

"What's got you so happy?" Regina asked, feeling the contagious grin pulling at her own lips.

Kathryn said nothing, putting the mail and coffee down and fishing for her phone; after a few seconds, she showed the screen to her friend.

It was a picture, on Main Street apparently, where a huge white banner was hanging. In bold black letters, a message was written on it.

_**I don't care, go on and tear me apart** _

The message was clearly written for the denizens who were criticizing the Serenader, and Regina felt her grin grow wider.

Although she refused to listen to the song, feeling like she would prefer to be surprised, not knowing what the words would say next, she couldn't help but wonder what new ways to woo her the Serenader would try.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are getting crazier!
> 
> And man these chapters keep getting longer and longer!
> 
> Whatever shall happen?
> 
> Anyway! Sorry if I skipped the weekend part a bit, but I feel like if I go day by day, this fic will take forever to really get going, and I don't want to bore anyone! But don't worry I will have plenty of bonding scenes with our favorite family!
> 
> So theories? Do you think the Serenader will try to communicate with Regina outside the lyrics? Who do you think will be the first person to discover the Serenader's identity?
> 
> I'd love to hear your ideas!


	4. Bold Moves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And back with this story!
> 
> So now let's see what the Serenader and our favourite ladies were up to!
> 
> Thank you for the continued support!

Regina was truly having an abysmal morning. After the very bold outcry against the town earlier, the Serenader was competing with Regina for the spot of Public Enemy #1. Apparently mocking the town and then not showing their face was a very bad move, even worse considering that the mocking was in defense of Regina. Now that was just a package deal for disaster.

With lunch time nearing, Regina needed to get out of the office. She was sure Kathryn must feel the same way; the two had been fielding calls from angry citizens yelling about something or other regarding the Serenader, and although she would hang up whenever she realized it was one of those callers, that didn't stop them. They would just call back again.

Regina walked out towards her secretary's desk. Kathryn had a glare going as she listened to whoever was on the other end of the line yell at her. She mentally made a note to raise her friend's salary. Unlike her, Kathryn would argue back with the callers.

"...No, you listen to me you ass! I don't care who you think you are, Regina is my friend, you know what that means? That means I won't sell her out, especially not with a bribe! So no, I won't give you Regina, and even if I did know who the Serenader was, I wouldn't tell you!" With a huff Kathryn hung up the phone, crossing her arms petulantly.

"They must be desperate if they are willing to give you money," Regina rolled her eyes, coming to stand by her friend's desk.

Kathryn snorted. "Oh yeah, what a grand idea, let's give Midas' daughter money and see if she bites. Not to mention I have a sense of loyalty. I'd never give you out to those idiots."

Regina smiled, but in her head, a party was unfolding. She was once again reminded that she wasn't alone, and was flattered her friend would go to such lengths to defend her. "I think we've had enough playing telephone operators, what do you say to lunch?"

"Yes please!" Kathryn sighed happily. "I'll go grab something from Granny's. Your usual?"

"Actually, I was thinking of going myself." Due to Granny's proclivity for prepping the crossbow whenever she entered the diner, Emma had forbidden her from entering the establishment. Although Regina had originally agreed, she was getting tired of being so sheltered. She could defend herself very well, she had done it for years as the Evil Queen.

"Are you out of your mind?" Kathryn's eyes bugged out, "You are not going there by yourself!"

"Then by all means, please accompany me." Regina didn't wait to see whether her friend agreed, and made her way out.

The blonde followed after her friend, all the while saying "Regina, I get you're mad, but please listen to reason, Granny is not your biggest fan-"

"And it doesn't look like it's going to stop anytime soon." The former queen stopped and turned to face her friend, who nearly crashed into her having not expected the stop. "I mean really. No one in this town will ever be convinced that-"

"Eventually they will," Kathryn responded. "Look, they can't keep going forever, one day they'll realize they're better off here, and that you've changed. But going out on a suicidal mission like this isn't going to make them see you as a changed woman. They're doing this on purpose, don't you see? You get riled up and they win because you'll be more likely to lose your temper. Then they'll make a scene out of you doing something and we'll never hear the end it."

Regina wordlessly huffed, but she did have to admit Kathryn was right. "Very well, but I'll still accompany you. Being in that office is reaching claustrophobic levels."

Kathryn nodded, agreeing with her friend, and the two set off to Main Street.

* * *

By the time they got there, Main Street was setting up for a scene of chaos. The two friends hadn't originally seen anything wrong, people were walking around, minding their own business, but then a piercing cry cut through, and a gang of men were seen running through the roofs, chasing after someone in a hoodie.

"Stop! Thief!" Similar cries were heard, but the hooded person didn't stop.

A collective gasp was heard as the person jumped off one of the roofs, landing on an awning, the soft but taut fabric breaking their fall. They continued their journey by rolling off of that, landing gracefully on the asphalt in a way that allowed the person to transition from a roll into a run effortlessly.

The men, whom Regina recognized as being the dwarves, were left grumbling on the roofs, but they rushed to find a way to chase after their thief. Some tried to do the jump as well, but their collective weight caused the awning to rip, and some dwarfs fell to the ground in a tangled mess of limbs, probably broken at that.

Meanwhile the thief started to run away from Main Street...straight towards Regina.

The Mayor was shocked in place seeing the person run towards her, but thankfully the thief's feet braked just in time, with only a few feet between them, and they stood staring at each other. Well, Regina was staring into darkness. She couldn't see inside the hood, and after a few seconds of silence, the thief swerved around her and continued their run.

Some of the dwarfs who had managed to get down unscathed were now out of breath, stopping a few feet short of where Regina and Kathryn were standing.

Leroy, panting and out of breath, saw who he was standing beside, and recoiled, a grimace settling on his face.

"Keep your damn admirer on a leash Queenie."

Regina stared at him dumbfounded. Had that been- "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh really? What do you call that?" The angry dwarf pointed back towards Main Street, where the chaos had erupted. She looked over at where Kathryn's picture from this morning showed the banner with the declaration against the town. It seems they had tried to take down the sign, but now a different one hung there, declaring a similar message.

**__ **

**_I don't care if you do_ **

Kathryn, putting her phone away, stalked over to where Leroy was trying to get a rise out of Regina, who was still in a state of shock.

"Listen here Leroy, Regina had nothing to do with this, so back off." Kathryn stood beside her friend, her stance and arms crossed in front of her displaying the clear message that neither of them were in the mood. Regina had finally shaken off whatever shock she had and was giving Leroy a similar vibe as that of her friend.

The dwarf grumbled as he walked off, and the two women relaxed.

The blonde rounded off to her friend, "Was that-?"

Regina nodded meekly. "I think so."

"Aww, that's so cute!" Kathryn was smitten with seeing this whole story unfold.

"I hardly think that the Serenader nearly crashing into me while running from those bumbling idiots is cute."

Her friend smiled. "It does when they stop for nearly a minute to stare at you."

The brunette thought about it for a moment. It had been unexpected, but she supposed it was a cute gesture, the Serenader coming out in the middle of the day, disguised as they continued to leave messages out. She wondered if they would one day go and talk to her.

Suddenly, sirens were heard, and looking towards the source of the noise, they spotted Ruby jumping out of the cruiser, headed for the two women. Apparently Kathryn had done the sensible thing and called the police.

"I came as fast as I could, what happened?"

Before either one could answer, Leroy took it upon him to take over the situation, stalking over to them determinedly. It seems he came back with a renewed vigour as he exclaimed, "What happened?  _She_  happened!" With an accusing finger pointed at Regina, the street fell silent, and the four now had an audience.

"It's her fault that lunatic is running around town lovesick! She doesn't deserve him!"

Ruby took a deep breath, "Leroy, calm down, look we'll figure something out-"

"Figure something out? What about my men? That thief stole from Sneezy and now just hurt half of the dwarfs!"

Regina rolled her eyes. "Send me the hospital bill. Or don't, I could care less. It's not my fault your men cannot grasp the simple concept of physics."

That had probably been a bad thing to say, but Regina was at her wit's end. Leroy didn't seem to be any more calm as his fists tightened and he got closer to her.

Instantly, Ruby stepped between them, facing Leroy, a menacing scowl on her face as she glared at the dwarf. "Back off."

Kathryn meanwhile grabbed Regina's arm, and the brunette turned. All around them the people were gathering. It seemed that Leroy's outburst got everyone riled up, and they were ganging up on the 3 women.

They were outnumbered, big time.

"Alright, you're making me have to work on my day off, so believe me when I say that if I have to arrest you, it won't be pretty." The crowd parted to reveal none other than the Savior, red jacket and all, wearing an expression that could've given Regina in her prime Evil Queen days a run for her money.

Though that did little to assuage the people's anger. Emma made her way to the middle, coming to stand right beside Regina.

The scowl on her face gave her a more determined look as she said, "I'm not kidding, back off now."

Behind them, they heard Ruby growl in a way that showed everyone that she wasn't afraid to bring out the wolf to this party.

Emma saw that no one moved, so she put herself in front of Regina and Kathryn, and with as much force she could muster, gritted out, "STAND DOWN  **NOW**."

That did the trick, and Regina saw people moving back and away from the scene, though she could see, standing behind the Sheriff, that her hand was tightly clutching the weapon holstered behind her. As the threat seemed to leave, she relaxed her hold and turned around, face softening. "You okay?"

Regina could barely find her voice, so she just nodded meekly. Kathryn squeezed her arm gently, and Emma decided to leave them for a few minutes, going over to where Ruby was figuratively chewing Leroy's ear off.

"...are you out of your mind? What the hell was that? Yes I get your men were hurt, but seriously Leroy, you had no right!"

Emma sighed as she stood beside her deputy, arms crossed in front of her, showing the dwarf that she really was not in the mood to deal with this, even less so off duty.

Leroy looked like he was smelling something foul as he said, "I guess I flew a little bit off the handle, but come on! She's evil-"

"You're talking to the wrong group of people Leroy if you think that line will get you out of this," Emma retorted.

If Emma had had a bet going to see who could show up to make things worse, she'd put all her money on Mary Margaret and David. And when they showed up a few minutes later, confused looks and shocked cries at seeing Leroy being handcuffed and led to the cruiser by Ruby, Emma steeled herself for the worst.

"Emma what are you doing?" Mary Margaret was clearly not pleased with her daughter's dishing out of justice. Especially not when Ruby was dragging off a cuffed Leroy out of the scene.

"Arresting Leroy for disturbing the peace, and being responsible for riling up a mob that nearly attacked us right here on Main Street," was Emma's flat answer.

David wasn't too convinced, watching the dwarf get shoved none-too-gently into the cruiser. "I'm sure it's a misunderstanding."

"Really Charming? Are you that dense?" Regina had sauntered over to where her two least-favorite people were, looking like they were ganging up on Emma. She would later say it had just been to defend herself, but she could see from where she was that Emma's posture had changed. She was stiff as a rod, where a few seconds ago the blonde had looked like she was cowering before her parents.

"This doesn't concern you Regina." David stood in front of his family, not willing the brunette to get closer.

"To the contrary, I know it does, for Leroy gathered his mob against  _me_ , not your daughter."

Here David faltered. Taking advantage of it, Emma gathered some courage to continue. "Look, my decision is final. I made a promise that if anyone started to break the law in order to hurt Regina, I'd take action against them."

"And" Regina started, moving around to stand beside Emma, "if you do have a problem with that, the Sheriff's office is under my own, so if there are complaints, you'll have to deal with me."

That effectively shut them up, and they left, probably to go see how the other dwarfs were doing.

Emma turned back to face Regina. With a timid smile, she said "Thanks."

The brunette was unsure of what to say. This felt so confusing to her. She shouldn't be feeling the need to protect the daughter of Snow White, but she wanted, with every fibre of her being, to be there for the blonde like she had been for Regina every time someone decided to take it out on the her for the past few months.

Instead, Regina cleared her throat and responded with, "I'm sorry if you didn't want me to interfere or if this was something you wanted to discuss privately with your parents-"

"More like you prevented her from word-slamming them again. Round two ready to fire up!" Ruby was back, and grinning widely.

Emma shot her friend a pointed look as she said, "Ruby, shouldn't you be taking Leroy down to the Station?"

"Oh, right boss!" With a wink, the deputy turned right back around towards the cruiser.

As Ruby left, Regina wheeled around to look at Emma once again, the faintest of smiles tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Word-slamming?"

She swore she saw a blush forming on Emma's cheeks, but the blonde quickly shrugged it off, "Well, if my job's done, I'm gonna go back to having my day off, while you two go and eat lunch."

After the mob had broken away, Kathryn went to get them their lunch, and she was coming back just as Emma was leaving. She saw that Regina was smiling at the Sheriff's retreating form. "What'd I miss?"

They walked back to town hall as Regina explained her stint with the Charmings. "...and then Ruby came in and mentioned something about a word slam."

"Ooh, yeah she keeps mentioning that, I need to ask her about it." Kathryn proceeded to tell her that when the Sheriff and Deputy had come in last Friday, she made a cryptic mention to the word-slam, and the Sheriff's reaction to it.

Regina was intrigued. What had happened?

* * *

Emma just couldn't go back to the apartment, she was still fueled by adrenaline from earlier, so she went to see how Ruby was faring with Leroy.

It was a good thing she did, because Ruby was currently having to fend off Mary Margaret and David. They were all standing near the cells, Leroy inside one of them, lying on his back.

"Come on, it's not like his criminal record is actually going to affect him! If it did he'd be in a lot more trouble, because this isn't the first time he's behind bars." She had to give points to Ruby; Emma would've thought that her long friendship with Snow White would make her deputy bend to Mary Margaret's every whim, but apparently not.

Emma was standing in the hallway just outside the main room of the station, choosing to just watch for now. She'd had enough spats with her parents for now. "Ruby, think for one moment. You know Leroy, he wouldn't have hurt anyone, if anything he was trying to protect you and Emma, even Kathryn, poor woman."

Ruby let out a snort. "Doubt it."

"Shouldn't you be in the room, Sheriff?" Emma jumped a mile as a voice spoke behind her, drawing the attention of everyone inside the room towards them.

Behind her, Albert Spencer had a knowing smirk on his face, and it looked every bit as unfriendly as he was intending. The rest of the station fell silent as the two newcomers were revealed.

Emma ground out, "It's my day off. I'm just making sure everything's going fine."

"If it's your day off, then you have no right being here. In fact I could have your deputy arrest you for interfering in police matters."

David, for his part, decided to speak up against his supposed adopted father. "You have no power to do that."

Spencer shrugged his shoulders, walking into the bullpen fully, standing near the center of the room. His suit was neatly pressed, and Emma could guess it was probably expensive as heck. "No matter, I have my ways. But to the matter at hand, I do think it's time we let our good friend Leroy go."

"Why would we do that?" Ruby really wanted to tear the District Attorney limb from limb, but kept her violent tendency in check. The last thing she needed was to make things worse and testier than they were.

"Isn't it obvious? Your little skits are doing wonders, I don't think the Queen has any idea that you're double crossing her."

Emma also entered the room, standing near her office. "Who says we're doing that? Listen Mr. Spencer, let us do our jobs-"

"Giving the Queen free rein, pardon the pun, on this town, not to mention allowing her to keep walking freely is the exact opposite of your jobs, and yet..." He let the sentence hang. Of course he'd start playing his supposed trump card.

"Regina has every right to be walking around this town as anyone else."

"I think,  _Sheriff_ , that most of the town would disagree with you on that." The way he said her title got her blood boiling. He was mocking her. He walked over to a desk and seeing a stapler lying on it, he started to fiddle with it in his hands. "She was a ruthless ruler, and did unspeakable horrors before casting this curse. She doesn't deserve this."

Leroy, who was now sitting up, whispered something, and Mary Margaret made a strange noise that sounded suspiciously like a cross between a laugh and a snort in response, hiding it behind her hand. The District Attorney heard it, and with a mirthless smile, asked, "Something you wish to add, Ms. Blanchard?"

David spoke up once again. "Leave us to figure this out."

"I hardly think I'll do that. But I am curious as to what your wife and her criminal friend are conspiring about. Thick as thieves, wouldn't you say?"

In a second, the mood changed. What had been thick tension now transitioned to a debacle as both Mary Margaret and Ruby were holding David back, who was ready to punch Spencer.

The older man let out a cackle, the sound making Emma feel goosebumps crawling all over her skin. "Honestly, what did you think would happen while you were in your coma, and your wife was all alone? She and Leroy were very close while they were the two black sheep of the town, you can't help but wonder...I know she also saw Dr. Whale for a time."

David was positively livid by now, and Emma wasn't much better, fists forming and tightening, making her knuckles turn white. How she kept her composure throughout this entire ordeal was beyond her, but she did. With as much bravado as she could muster, she had to end this here and now. "Hey! Just because you're a lonely old prune doesn't give you the right to attack my parents like that. They have more dignity than you could ever muster. And who my mother dated while cursed is none of your business. Now get the hell out of here, you pig, before I have to arrest you, and believe me I  **will**  do it."

"How dare you!" Spencer was now seething, clutching the stapler in his hand, pointing it at her. "You insolent child! I can see that living without proper parents turned you out worse than if you had been with them! You're a disgrace!"

Emma wouldn't let the jab get to her, not now at least. The trio standing by Leroy were frozen in place. Mary Margaret and David were gaping at having Emma refer to them as her parents, while Ruby just watched, silently cheering her friend and boss. Leroy was admiring the courage she had, she was clearly Snow's daughter.

The blonde smirked as she replied, "I still turned out better than you ever will."

Spencer was shaking in anger, and without much thought, threw the stapler straight at her.

"Emma!" The four others in the room cried out as they saw the office supply fly across the room.

The blonde in question was frozen in place in fear. Should she dodge out of the way, or reveal herself? The latter might effectively shut Spencer up, but it might make things worse in the long run. But she wasn't thinking too far ahead. Screw consequences, she had to protect herself.

She concentrated on the flying object, but nothing was happening. Panic began to set in as she realized it wasn't working. Shit.

Suddenly the stapler froze in mid-air a few inches away from her face. It was so close that Emma had to cross her eyes to see the black office supply.

To her left, clicking heels announced Regina's entrance, hand still out, keeping the stapler in place, while her other hand held a manila folder. "Something I can help you with, D.A Spencer?"

Emma was still rooted to the spot as Spencer huffed and muttered under his breath and left the office, making sure to give the meanest glare to Emma. Halfway out in the hallway, he stopped and turned around, facing Regina, who was looking at him as if she expected lasers to shoot out of her eyes and pulverize the D.A. "Take this victory as you will, but mark my words, this secret admirer nonsense will end badly for everyone involved."

Regina merely rolled her eyes, ignoring the thinly veiled threat, turning around and going to deposit the stapler on the nearest desk. She looked at the Sheriff, who was still pale and frozen. Her timing had been impeccable. She had remembered that she needed to hand some papers to the Sheriff's station, so she went to drop them off, arriving just as soon as she saw a stapler flying towards her roommate.

Why didn't the other woman move out of the way? She knew Emma had the reflexes to dodge it, and yet, she hadn't budged an inch. Maybe she was afraid the stapler would hurt her when hitting the wall. Even now her eyes were unfocused. "Hey," Regina made her way closer. " Are you okay?"

Emma did a double take, as if realizing where she was, letting out a shaky "Yeah" along with a nod. She didn't need the Sheriff's superpower to know that was a lie. But before she could try to convince her to elaborate, the family jumped in. Literally.

Mary Margaret and David engulfed Emma in a hug. Regina knew something must've happened before she had come in, since the stapler couldn't have caused so much fright.

She knew she was out of place here. Regina dropped the folder beside the stapler, and left without a word.

* * *

Once Regina finally parked her car in front of the apartment, she wanted nothing more than to collapse on her bed. Today had been a day and a half, and it was only Monday.

Between nearly crashing into the Serenader and the whole drama with the Charmings, Leroy and the mobs, her day had been filled. Thankfully after she left the station, things had calmed down. She hoped she'd be able to have a chat with her roommate about what had happened today at the station. Maybe she'd try to get some hints on the word-slamming that Ruby kept mentioning.

Arriving at the door, she saw a note tucked into the doorjamb in Emma's scrawly writing.

**Hey,**

**So MM and David invited Henry and I to dinner and I couldn't say no after what happened. I tried to see if they would invite you, but no luck, sorry :/**

**We'll be back soon,**

**Emma**

Looks like it was just going to be her tonight then. Opening the door, she was greeted with a bouquet of flowers lying on top of the entrance table. All lilies. A card lay on top of the bouquet, and saw that this penmanship was much neater than from the notepad paper message she held.

_**I must apologize for nearly running into you today, and for the drama you had to endure afterwards.** _

_**I wish the rest of the town could see you're such a heavenly view.** _

_**-Serenader** _

_**PS: Thanks for the name, it's catchy.** _

Regina stood there dumbfounded. Words escaped her right now. She almost missed seeing the hooded figure trying to sneak out the fire escape.

"Wait!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was this chapter!
> 
> Lots of drama, and some cutesy moments sneaking in in there!
> 
> What could Emma be hiding? Hmmm, curious and curiouser.
> 
> I just want to clarify something regarding the relationship with Emma and her parents. They're not going to be antagonists to this story or anything, I just have them as mistrustful of Regina, all without mentioning that Emma herself isn't sure of her whole dynamic with them. I mean, I think it's obvious she does consider them family, as her outburst implies, but it must be a lot to take in after 28 years of not believing there was anyone for her. It takes a while to let it sink in.
> 
> Please let me know what you thought of this!
> 
> Thank you!


	5. A Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And back again with more from this story!
> 
> Also big congrats to PeculiarMaleficent for getting the reference of the lilies! Now I'm not entirely sure if it's 100% true, since I think it's only for the tiger lily flowers, but in the movie Imagine Me & You [which everyone should watch because it's an amazing story] a lily means "I dare you to love me", which of course I'm sure the Serenader knows and intended!
> 
> I hope everyone enjoys this!

Regina watched as the hooded figure froze in place, one leg outside, the other in. Their back was to her, hands on either side of the window frame to steady themself.

"Please."

She didn't mean for that second part to come out so quiet and broken, but it did the trick. The Serenader retracted their leg back into the room and stood still with their back to her.

Regina tried to memorize every detail from the little she could see. It was a vision in black, from the hoodie to their dark jeans all the way to the leather gloves and converse sneakers, clearly meant for stealth and mobility, though only for nighttime. Earlier that day that combination had stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Who are you?"

A low and deep throaty laugh was heard. Either the Serenader was a man, or they were disguising their voice. "Now what makes you think I'll reveal that?"

Regina glared at the back of the hoodie as if that would make the Serenader change their mind. "Then why stay?"

"You asked."

She swore she heard a familiar hint of playful bantering, but she pushed that thought out as she smirked. "Well I'm asking you now for your identity."

The Serenader turned around, and once again Regina saw total darkness under the hood. They made their way closer to her, standing as they both had earlier that day, a few inches from each other. "What's the fun in that though? The mystery is gone, and you don't get anymore of my little messages; do you want that?"

She did a double take. They had her there. She slowly shook her head. "No."

"There you go." The Serenader stuffed their hands in their pockets before continuing, "But you  _can_  ask me something. Anything else you want, provided it doesn't give hints to my identity of course."

Regina couldn't see, but she heard the smile behind the deep voice. She decided to keep up with the joking. It had been a while since she had a truly light and carefree conversation with someone. "Just one thing?"

"Don't push your luck, Mayor Mills." Again that playful banter.

Now she had to think, what could she ask? There were so many things she wanted to know, and yet, one of them stood out prominently in her mind. "Why are you doing this?"

Though faceless, the change of stance, a subtle stiffness creeping up, told Regina that they hadn't been expecting that question. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Humor me." What she might think as obvious might not be what they thought as obvious.

"I like you."

The answer was simple enough, and indeed it might seem obvious, but Regina's eyes widened, and her mouth was slightly agape. She took a step back, surely she heard wrong. "How-"

They laughed. "I was under the impression the 'how' doesn't exist when it comes to love. But believe me, I wasn't exactly thrilled at realizing it."

"Oh?" She didn't even try to school her features as she braced for disappointment. Them saying that they realized she was the Evil Queen, or that she had screwed over their life or their family, or any of the other countless reasons everyone gave to explain their hatred and distaste for her.

"Yeah, 'cause I knew I'd have no chance with you. You're this gorgeous and amazing lady, and I'm this fucked up, sad excuse for a human being. Why do you think I didn't just try to ask you out? I didn't think you'd ever in a million years say yes."

Regina was surprised at the blunt honesty, and the completely unexpected answer. "I-"

The answer had been unpredictable, but what happened next was out of anything she had even begun to think as a possibility.

They kissed her.

Their lips were pressed together, and as soon as Regina got over the shock, she melted into the kiss, throwing her arms around their shoulders. She realized the Serenader was a bit taller than her, though she was much too distracted with the kiss to focus on that. Strong arms wrapped around her body, pulling her to them.

Once they broke for air, Regina tried to peer up into the darkness, but nothing. She knew she had kissed someone's lips, but they somehow managed to keep this foggy blanket over them through the entire time.

"Well, I must be off now, I need to prepare my messages for tomorrow!" They gave her one last peck before separating.

Once more the Serenader went towards the window, and they were back in the position she found them in some minutes ago. The Serenader paused, turning around to face her once more. "And hey, just so you know, not everyone thinks you're evil."

When she was alone again, Regina tried to process everything. Had that really just happened?

* * *

Emma was tired, what was new? It was the middle of the night and here she was chasing a delinquent.

Dinner with her parents had been a mission and a half. The slip-up of calling them her parents had been an in-the-moment occurrence. She still hadn't managed to quite accept that her parents were here, alive and healthy and just a few years older than her physically. She had spent so long coming to terms with the fact that she was alone, that this became a shock to her, one she preferred to not deal with in the immediate future. But the slip-up had pacified her parents and they were ecstatic at the apparent admission and realization that they were her parents. But she couldn't very well explain all of her messed up issues to them, and especially not in front of Henry.

She had thanked the phone call at the moment, Ms. Nesbitt was convinced that she saw some strange person causing a ruckus near her house, so Emma had silently praised her lucky stars and bolted out of there.

It had turned out to be a stray cat, and once she caught the feline, Emma left to drop it off at the overnight bin in the pet shelter for David to deal with in the morning. She had a brief moment of inspiration, especially since she hadn't wanted to go back to her parents' apartment, and later she just wandered around, trying to clear her head.

That was when she was nearly run over by a rogue driver driving an old pick-up truck. She jumped into her car and chased after the maniac but lost him somewhere inside the Storybrooke forest. Emma was determined to catch the lunatic. She had gotten out of her car and continued the journey on foot, as her Bug couldn't handle the rough terrain of the forest. Checking her phone she realized was without service. Perfect.

After some paces, she saw the truck up ahead, and took out her gun.

* * *

A few hours after her surprise meeting with the Serenader, Regina had long finished her dinner, changed into her pajamas, and was now sitting on her bed, reading. She glanced at the clock and noted that the Charmings were clearly hosting a lengthy dinner since neither Emma nor Henry had returned. It had probably been best that she hadn't been invited, she'd have probably blown someone's head off by now.

As if thinking about it summoned them, her phone started to vibrate. Checking the phone, she grimaced at seeing the name Mary Margaret on the screen. Steeling herself for anything, she pressed the green button.

"Yes, Ms. Blanchard, what do you want?" The last thing she wanted to do was deal with the annoying woman, so she at least decided that she'd outright skip the pleasantries, getting right to the heart of the matter.

"Hey Regina, has Emma contacted you at all lately?" Mary Margaret didn't skip a beat in her response, clearly she had been expecting Regina's curtness.

The mayor scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. This was a strange question indeed. "No? She left me a note saying she went to have dinner with you."

"And she did, but then she got a call from Ms. Nesbitt about a burglar or something, and left. We just called Ms. Nesbitt now and she said the matter had been resolved hours ago, that it had just been a stray cat."

"Fascinating." She could hardly keep the bite out of her voice as she added, "Ms. Blanchard, although I appreciate your riveting retelling of my roommate's whereabouts, I fail to see what that has to do with me."

"Emma's been gone for the past couple of hours. I've tried to call her but no answer. I tried Ruby, Belle or anyone else around town but no one's seen her. I was wondering if maybe she went back to the apartment and fell asleep or something."

Regina's stomach clenched. This couldn't be good. "I'll try to find her."

"How? We've already tried to call her and-"

"Magic, Ms. Blanchard." Before she found herself fielding questions, she hung up on her old nemesis, setting the phone down and getting up.

She walked over to Emma's room and went over to her closet. She found the blue leather jacket that made the red version look like a tuxedo in comparison, and enchanted it with a locator spell.

As soon as she let go of the object, it floated around for a second before flying out the window. Regina didn't even have time to change her clothes, but on her way out the door she quickly grabbed a jacket and shoes before running out of the building to chase down the levitating garment.

Her heart sunk as she saw that she was heading towards the forest. What had Emma gotten herself into?

* * *

The truck was empty. Emma breathed easier after having checked the vicinity for the crazy driver and seeing it wasn't a trap. But she hadn't found neither hide nor hair of whoever had been in the vehicle.

Checking the glove compartment, Emma saw the car was registered to one Bobby Pottage. She grabbed the registration and stuffed it into her pocket, keeping a tight grip on her gun and flashlight.

The only thing she hadn't checked was the trunk. What were the chances that Bobby had closed himself in there to hide?

The top was down, so she was going to have to figure something else out to check inside. Before she could get started, she heard a twig snap.

She turned off her flashlight and crouched behind the right side of the truck. Emma tried to even her breathing as whoever it was continued to crunch the twigs on their way to the truck. She glanced around the truck and saw that whoever it was, they had a lantern of some sort with them.

As Emma looked closer, it looked like fire rather than a lightbulb. Had someone decided to regress back to their Middle Ages-esque fairy tale days by lighting a torch? She didn't really want to analyze it much before she lost the element of surprise.

She prepared her gun and flashlight and took a deep breath. Letting it go, she came out from behind the truck and turned on the flashlight, pointing the gun at the newcomer. "Freeze!"

"Emma?" She recognized the voice, but it didn't make sense.

"Reg-" Suddenly black surrounded her as something covered her face. "What the-"

She didn't let go of either object as she tried to pry away whatever it was that was in her face, but no avail.

"Stop struggling! Let me help." Regina's voice sounded much closer, and suddenly she could see again, Regina was standing about an inch away, holding whatever it was that had been on her face in one hand, and on the other hand, she held a fireball. That must've been the light she saw.

"What are you doing here?" Although Emma knew Regina couldn't possibly be the crazy driver, she was puzzled as to how Regina had located her. Unless she...no that was impossible, otherwise they'd be having a very different conversation.

"You've been gone for a while and your parents were worried."

Emma was sure she heard wrong. Did she travel to an alternate universe when she wasn't looking? "It's only been 3 hours last I checked? And wait, did they seriously call  _you_  to help?"

"The tone of surprise is noted, dear, and no, they simply called to ask if I knew where you were and I took the matter of finding you upon myself since your parents were clearly inept at finding a better solution than calling the whole town."

The Sheriff did a double take. "Wait, they called the whole town?"

"Out of everything I said, that's what you take away? You're not even going to ask how I found you, or explain where you have been, or what you're doing hiding behind a truck in the middle of the forest?" Regina finished with a frustrated sigh. How could this woman be so infuriating!

"No I just- wait how  _did_  you find me?"

Regina held up the cloth she was still holding in one of her hands. "Locator spell on your derelict jacket."

Emma nodded. Of course, magic. Though that did give her an idea. "Think you can use your magic to open this trunk?"

Regina looked to where Emma was jerking her thumb, gun still in hand. "First you'll explain to me why you're out here on your own without any back-up or protection, or even why you didn't answer the phone."

The Sheriff smirked. "Careful Regina, your caring is showing again." Seeing Regina once again fumble around with her words, Emma continued, "And to soothe your worries, out here in the middle of nowhere my phone doesn't have service so no calls in or out. Secondly, I was chasing a maniac who nearly ran me over, I didn't have time to call backup or anything. Plus who was I going to call? Granny would have my head if I pulled Ruby out of work for this."

"Someone ran you over?" Although Emma didn't notice, Regina's fireball flared just a little bit brighter and stronger at hearing the Sheriff's response.

"Nearly."

Regina didn't say another word as she turned to the trunk and waved her hand, creating a dull thunk sound as the mechanism unlocked.

Emma opened the door and shone her light inside. Empty. She put her gun away as well as her flashlight, as Regina's fireball did the job of both of the items she was holding. She pulled back the covering on the truck, and saw something peculiar. "Huh."

"What is it?"

"I think we found our tree thief. The bottom of this tarp is covered in scratches and the base of the truck bed has some wood bark and chips scattered. Plus it smells just like Mr. Nelson's woodwork shop."

Regina nodded slowly. "Who's the car registered to?"

"Bobby Pottage. Name ring any bells?"

The mayor shook her head. "Not off the top of my head."

"Well, I think he's long gone by now, so let's head back."

"Yes, before your parents begin to wonder if I've done away with you."

Emma chuckled softly, but didn't respond.

They walked back quietly to Emma's car, and as soon as her phone had one bar, it started buzzing madly.

She fished the phone out of her pocket and sighed before answering. "Hey Mary Margaret-"

"Where have you been!?" The shrill voice at the other end of the line was so loud Emma had to pull the phone away from her ear.

"Long story, I was chasing down a lead, but I'm fine, Regina's with me-"

"If that's meant to soothe me, Emma, you'd be sorely mistaken."

Emma turned to check that Regina wasn't nearby to hear that part, and thankfully she wasn't, having walked ahead to reach the yellow Bug. "Yeah I know, but anyway, I'm safe, and we're gonna head back home. Is Henry still awake?"

"It's 3 in the morning Emma, he's been out like a light for hours now."

"Right. Well can he stay with you guys tonight? And then I can swing by tomorrow-"

On the other end of the line, Mary Margaret let out a chuckle. "Don't worry Emma, we'll take him to school tomorrow."

"Right. Thanks."

"Anytime, just make sure to let us know next time you go gallivanting? I woke up half the town trying to find you."

It was Emma's turn to laugh. "So I've heard. Night Mary Margaret."

"Good night, Emma."

* * *

The ride back had been quiet, and now at the apartment, Emma noticed something.

"You came after me in your pajamas?"

Regina's back was to Emma, so she didn't see the way the brunette blushed like a firetruck. Without turning, she tried to be as nonchalant as she could while responding, "Your jacket flew off before I could properly change."

Emma didn't believe that for a moment, even though her lie detector didn't ring with the answer, so it must've been a partial truth. Shrugging off her jacket, she saw a new fixture by the table. "What's with the vase of flowers?"

Regina froze. With everything that happened, she forgot about mentioning the Serenader's visit. She turned around to face the blonde, hands fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. "I-it was a gift from the Serenader."

"Oh? I thought they only did two messages per day? At least that was the pattern we established."

The brunette nodded meekly. "This wasn't part of the messages."

Emma fought to keep her face passive, but Regina was now seriously looking like a little kid with her hand caught in the cookie jar and it made her want to laugh. She tried to egg her on. "Then what was it?"

"It was a sort of apology for running into me today. I found them when I came in the apartment."

The blonde nodded thoughtfully. She saw that Regina was struggling to add something else, so she decided to stay quiet and wait for the older woman to continue.

"There was something else. The Serenader hadn't left by the time I came in."

"Did you see who it was?"

"No. They had their face really hidden." Regina explained the rest of the story, the question she had posed to the Serenader, and the answer she got. "And then they...they kissed me."

Emma didn't say anything, walking over to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water. "Water?"

"No, thank you."

A few more minutes passed. Emma emptied her glass before asking, "So, do you think they're telling the truth?"

Now it was Regina's turn to be silent. "I suppose. I mean, they haven't exactly given me reason to doubt them, especially since finding people that like me in this town are few and rare."

Both women were silent as they pondered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter, and more mysterious occurrences happening!
> 
> Sorry if this part seemed a bit filler-ish, but I felt like with the Serenader already having made their surprise meeting, and their kiss, I wanted something different to happen and keep things going, and the plot moving forward.
> 
> Next up we get Henry to start trying to puzzle the mystery together!
> 
> Let me know what you think about this chapter!


	6. Bear in Mind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! I've been listening to the song nonstop and wanted to continue the fic.
> 
> So here we go! Continuing off from where we left off, the Serenader has visited Regina, and Emma has a new lead on the mystery of the missing woodwork and who tried to run her over.
> 
> Fun fact, I was looking over the story to refresh myself of the facts, and I just realized that in the first chapter I accidentally had written "pick locking". Ooops! Fixed it though.
> 
> And I'm stoked everyone seems to be loving the fic so much! Enjoy this update, I made sure to make it long to make up for the wait.

Emma felt like shit and a half. Running on less than 4 hours of sleep once again meant that she could kiss her sleep schedule for this week goodbye. Now she had to play detective and figure out why exactly Bobby Pottage would want to steal those trunks from Mr. Nelson and what he wanted to do with them.

"Good morning." Regina was already up, serving them juice while the coffee finished brewing. The toast was already on the table, ready to be eaten.

"Mornin'" Emma refused to call today 'good'. She was tired, she was cranky at the town, and she was furious with the crazy shit she had to deal with on a daily basis. She needed one day to herself. Just one. Yesterday didn't even count because it was technically only a half day off, and she didn't even get to enjoy  _that_  because she had to deal with Leroy and DA Spencer. Now she was back into the thick of it for the rest of the foreseeable week, unless Ruby miraculously managed to wrangle some free time from Granny's once again. "How the hell can you be so awake? You got as much sleep as I did."

"I manage. Not to mention that I did have some downtime before your mother called me." Regina set down the juice on the table, before making her way to pour them their coffee.

Emma just gave a grunt as an answer. She sank down onto her chair, waiting for the coffee to get ready, prepping some jam on her toast.

"Speaking of which, what did happen yesterday? I'm assuming that a haywire stapler didn't cause your parents to get all protective, and from the look of things when I came in, Mr. Spencer had created quite the situation."

"Yeah." Emma bit down on a chunk of toast and started chewing. "Spencer was trying to get a rise out of my parents, making it seem like Mary Margaret had slept with half the town and insinuating that she wasn't faithful to David." She swallowed the bite, and thought about mentioning the things Spencer said about Regina. She had a right to know. "He was also convinced that Leroy's arrest was all a ploy to make you think you have allies. He's also really hoping you get arrested."

Regina had long mastered the tactic of keeping her emotions in check. So when Emma glanced at Regina after she said the last part, Regina betrayed nothing to show that she was bothered by what Emma said. Or hell, that she had even heard her. After a couple of seconds of silence, Regina sat down at the table with the mugs of coffee in hand. She handed one to Emma, and looked expectantly, "Continue."

But Emma wasn't going to let it go. "Seriously? Not even a twitch? I just told you that Spencer wants you arrested, and thinks we're double crossing you, and you don't even react?"

"How do you want me to react, Ms. Swan? This isn't exactly news to me, nearly everyone in this town hates me."

"Hating you is one thing. He wants to arrest you! Probably worse!" Man this woman was hardheaded.

"Let him try." Regina shrugged before taking a sip of her coffee. "And for your information, unlike you, Ms. Swan, I don't wear my emotions on my sleeves."

"Bullshit." Emma smirked. She could try all she wanted, but Regina Mills would never convince Emma that she was as unfeeling as she advertised herself. "Tell that to the stain on the wall."

Regina looked up to see Emma jerking her thumb to the back wall, where the coffee stain from last week was still barely present. She admitted nothing, instead busying herself with her own toast.

"I've respected your privacy not to ask what led you to it, and I won't try to weasel it out of you Regina, but it's okay to admit you're feeling overwhelmed with all of this."

"And what purpose would that serve?" Regina bit back, looking up with a glare. "It won't change anything."

"Maybe not, but keeping everything bottled up won't help you Regina."

Regina set down her cup, hands curling into fists. "Don't pretend you care, Ms. Swan."

The blonde was flabbergasted. What the hell was Regina going on about? "You think I don't care? What do you think I've been doing for the past couple of months? I've been trying to help you every step of the way and stop people from hurting you!"

"I never asked for you to do it!"

"No, you didn't. In fact you vehemently told me to drop it. But I still did it because I want to."

"No, Ms. Swan. You're doing this because Henry probably wrangled you into it."

"What?" Emma shook her head. "Regina, Henry never asked me to do  _anything_. I promised him 2 months ago that I'd keep you safe and protect you, and I've been doing nothing but that."

Regina just stared. Had she really misinterpreted it all? Did Emma Swan really care about her that much? She cleared her throat and asked the one word that was rebounding all over her mind. "Why?"

Emma noted the shaky tone of the older woman's question. Clearly this issue was a deeply rooted one. It was then that Emma realized that Regina's self-esteem was practically shot. Understandably so. She couldn't imagine being stuck within a town where nearly everyone hated her guts. "Like I said Regina, I care. I know everyone is all hung up because you used to be the Evil Queen, but I don't see it. To me you're just Regina Mills."

The brunette didn't miss the fact that Emma said 'used to be'. She flashed the smallest of smiles, and replied "I bet that if you had known me in my Evil Queen glory you wouldn't be so quick to defend me."

She thought about it for a minute, but then the blonde shook her head. "But that's not what happened. What did happen is that you raised Henry for most of the 11 years of his life. And you managed to give him everything that I couldn't, which was exactly why I gave him up. Evil Queen or not, you raised Henry perfectly Regina. That's what matters to me."

Regina felt like she could melt into a puddle right then and there. Hearing Henry's birth mother actually praising her mothering skills, especially considering her lack of experience due to her own mother, made her heart swell. "Thank you, Emma."

Emma lived for the moments that Regina called her by her first name. It really conveyed the sincerity in her words. "Well, it's the truth. Besides, Archie, Ruby and Kathryn all knew you from your Evil Queen days, and they seem perfectly fine with forgiving you."

"But they weren't the ones screwed over the most during the curse." Regina replied bitterly.

The blonde furrowed her brows. "Well, I can't really speak for Leroy because being jailed nearly every day for 28 years can't be fun, but I wouldn't say anyone really got the shortest end of the stick."

"Someone did." Regina said, burrowing her face within her mug, taking deep gulps of her coffee. She didn't want to look at her roommate.

"What, David? He-"

"No Ms. Swan, you."

Emma did a double take. "I thought I got away from the curse? Hence my whole Saviour thing?"

"But you were still a victim of the curse. You were left without a family, something that to this day has been haunting you. Not to mention your trust issues." Regina lowered her mug, finding her glass of orange juice very interesting all of a sudden.

"I-." Emma stood up and dragged her chair closer to her roommate, who was still avoiding looking at her. She sat down and took the empty hand in both of hers, stroking her thumbs across the back of the older woman's palm. "Hey."

Regina did look up, and she saw that Emma's eyes held nothing but admiration for her. Not an ounce of malice was peeking out.

"I don't blame you for that. It happened, but it gave us Henry, and I'm sure neither of us regret having Henry in our lives, so don't beat yourself up over it, okay?" Once the other woman nodded, Emma broke into a grin. She let go of the other woman's hand and made her way back to her original spot at the table.

"So what else happened during Mr. Spencer's visit?" Regina was trying to reel everything back from the emotional scene they just had, going back to more neutral ground. "Why did he chuck the stapler at you?"

"Oh. I insulted him.  _He_  was insulting David and Mary Margaret and something... I don't know, just snapped in me, and I rose to defend them by insulting him. I called him an old prune with no dignity... and a pig for good measure. Then he got angry and blamed my lack of parentage for my rudeness, calling me a disgrace."

"He  _what_?!" Regina was furious. Spencer could talk shit about Regina any day of the week and she'd ignore it. But to hear the blonde being called a disgrace made her want to rip his heart out of his chest.

"Whoa Regina!" Emma jumped back, looking at Regina's hands. They were on fire.

The brunette quickly noted and recalled her magic back into her body. So much for not wearing her emotions on her sleeves. "Sorry. What did you tell him then?"

Emma sat down again, trying to not focus on why Regina just went magic-crazy for no apparent reason, and smirked. "That I still wound up better than he did."

Regina couldn't help buy laugh at that. "Hence the stapler?"

"Hence the stapler."

Regina looked at the clock and saw what time it was. "We need to get to work."

"Oh yeah. Hey mind if I accompany you to work?"

The older woman raised an eyebrow. "Are you being chivalrous or afraid for my well-being?"

"Well you know me, a Saviour is like a knight, so I guess I'd be the chivalrous white knight."

"A fitting title consider your mother's name."

It took Emma a few seconds, but then she broke out into a smile. "Clever. But no, I need to look up where Bobby lives so I can go grill him for last night. And the public records are at Town Hall."

"Very well."

A few minutes later and they were both ready to leave. Emma went to open the door, and were met with something fluttering to the ground. Regina was closest so she picked it up. It was a postcard. The front had a night sky on it, stars shining, some brighter than others. Her breath hitched as she realized whose it was. She turned it around and saw words on the back.

_**'Cause in a sky full of stars** _

"And the notes continue. Clearly the Serenader has time on their hands. Maybe next time you see them, you should go ask if they're interested in a job with law enforcement. I definitely could use their enthusiasm and free time."

Regina finally looked up from the card that she had been attentively staring at, almost as if she was hoping that looking at it hard enough would provide some clue or answer to the Serenader's identity. She smirked at Emma's comment, and responded, "Really Sheriff? You'd hire someone with a criminal record to do law enforcement work?"

"Well I was hired," Emma responded with a shrug.

The older woman hadn't realized that her comment could be construed as being a jab to the blonde. her eyes widened and she quickly wracked her brain of what to say to counter it.

But before she could say anything, Emma smiled, laying a hand on the other woman's shoulder. "Hey relax, I was just kidding. Besides, as I understand it, mostly everyone in this town was a criminal at one point or another in their life, so it's not like I have much to choose from huh?"

"Touche. Now let's go before we're late."

* * *

They arrived at Town Hall in good time, and by 8:20, both women were greeting Kathryn, who was already at her desk.

"So, nothing yet from the Serenader?" was Kathryn's first question after the pleasantries were finished.

"Actually, there was a postcard." Apparently Regina had put it in her purse without Emma having seen it. But then again Emma wasn't running for Most Observant Award with the little sleep she got. She truly made for an abysmal detective.

"Once again with the same words!" Kathryn was flipping over between the picture and the words.

"Nearly. Before it was ' _ **you're**  a sky full of stars_' now it's ' _in_ '," Regina corrected.

"Hmm, wonder what the second part is." Kathryn mulled over it for a bit with a hum. Seeing as no answer was going to present itself, she let the matter go and turned to the Sheriff, who hadn't said a word but was still standing there, hands stuffed in her pockets. With a smirk, she asked, "Anyway Emma, did you decide to start escorting our Mayor to work?"

Said Sheriff jumped up as if she had been taking a nap while standing and just now awoke. "Huh ? Oh no, I just need to check the public records."

"Oh yeah? Who're you looking for?"

It was Regina who answered this one, "It seems that last night someone attempted to run over our beloved Sheriff, and after she tried to chase him down, she found his abandoned truck. From the clues inside, it's probable that our tree thief is the same man."

Kathryn was dumbfounded. "Who'd be stupid enough to try and run Emma over? She's a force to be reckoned with."

It was true. Despite Emma's leaning to Regina's side of things, the fact that she was Sheriff and Snow White and Charming's daughter made her a respected figure, even if she wasn't all that keen about it. She'd much rather have respect for herself rather than because she was a child of the town's power couple. But Emma still took it in stride, flashing a grin at Kathryn and said, "Thanks. The keys?"

"Oh yeah." The secretary fished around for it and once she found them, gave them to the Sheriff. "Sorry it's all old school. We haven't really had anyone willing to help out, y'know." It was left unsaid but all three women understood why.

"It's cool. I have a name to work with, so it's not like I have to be hunting down blindly through archives."

"Oooh, who is it? Maybe I can help!" Kathryn, next to Ruby, was a pretty big gossip girl herself, so if anyone could help her save time and patience from going to the records archive, it'd be her.

"Bobby Pottage?"

"The name is familiar, but I don't remember a Bobby. I know a Mandy Pottage, a wonderful woman and a good cook, never wanted to open up her own store though. Guess she didn't want to compete with Granny. There's her husband Barry Pottage. Never met him but he's a gardener, and I know they have a kid...maybe that's him?"

Emma tried to correlate the information Kathryn gave her with what she knew. "Well if it is the kid, he has to be of driving age in order to buy the truck. Unless Barry is doing a bad attempt at a fake identity."

Regina had stayed silent throughout this exchange. She could've just gone to her office and left the two blondes to figure it out by themselves, but she didn't want to leave, she wanted to know about Bobby and what were the chances that he was the Serenader? The thought made her want to grimace. A teenage boy having a crush on her going through all this trouble? It was laughable that she would get so hung up over it.

She forced herself out of her thoughts and saw that the two women had finished their conversation. Emma was headed in the direction of the basement, twirling the keys around her finger. Well, it was time she got to working as well, rather than daydreaming about who the Serenader could be.

* * *

Emma was now having second thoughts about being so blase with searching the stone age records. Getting there had been easy, though judging from the amount of dust around the basement, Emma was certain no one had visited this level of Town Hall in decades. Hell maybe even since the curse's inception 28 years ago.

She could bet good money that if she waited a couple more decades, all this dust could resemble snow and they could have a perennial winter wonderland down here.

The real problem, had been with opening things. Once she had arrived at the door of the records room, Emma had to put her back into it and shove the door open. Lack of oil meant the hinges were all rusted up and creaked like mad. Emma was sure that the creaking was enough to scare even the toughest ghosts.

If opening the door had been difficult, opening the filing cabinet was a mission and a half. She planted one foot in the floor, the other against the filing cabinet, and tried to yank the M-R drawer open. But either she had misjudged her strength, or the drawer's handle had weakened after so long not being used.

Whichever the case, Emma managed to rip the handle out of the drawer door without even opening said drawer. But she also had by now used so much force that she propelled herself backwards straight onto a table in the middle of the room with boxes stacked on top of it. She slid across the table and over to the other side, taking boxes with her that served as pillows to catch her fall and weights to squish her down. A Swan sandwich. Just great.

"MOTHERFUCKING SHIT!" Emma classified herself as someone who swore like a sailor. She wasn't ashamed of it and didn't deny it. Of course she tried not to swear in front of Henry, but some situations required just the right amount of expletives to really convey her opinion and thoughts about the situation.

So of course when she yelled out, it was apparently loud enough that both Regina and Kathryn came running downstairs.

"Emma? Are you okay?" Regina was the first to make her way inside the room, and when she saw Emma on the ground surrounded by filing boxes, she ran over to the fallen blonde.

"Oh wow, this room hasn't been cleaned in ages! Leroy really has been shirking his duties," Kathryn remarked, coming up behind Regina at a more leisurely pace.

"Remind me to give that bastard a thorough talking to about how maintenance really works. Even if I need to shove a fucking duster up his ass to get him to understand." Right now Emma wasn't looking to mince words. She was going to say it like it was.

Together the three women managed to lift the boxes out of on top of Emma. The ones below her were a bit squished, but since they were all filled with heavens know what documents, they didn't completely crumble under her weight.

"What happened?" Kathryn asked, trying to figure out why the Sheriff had seemingly toppled onto a bunch of boxes. Regina meanwhile was returning the boxes back onto the table.

Emma held up the handle that she still clutched in her right hand. "Handle broke."

Kathryn gave her a grin and extended her hand to help Emma up.

Emma took the hand and stood up, stretching her back and rolling her shoulders, making sure all the kinks got out. Once she was done, she grunted, "Unfortunately, the drawer door didn't come along with me."

Regina, without a word, waved her hand and the drawer shot open.

Emma was gaping. After a few seconds, she growled, "Seriously? Couldn't you have done that like, 10 minutes ago?"

"You never asked, dear." Regina smirked back.

The Sheriff, like the mature adult she is, just stuck her tongue out in retaliation, before busying herself with finding the folder she went through all this trouble for. "Pottage, here it is."

The folder wasn't too heavy, and soon enough the three women were poring over the folder.

"Okay so everything's like you said Kathryn. And Bobby is their son, 17 years old, set to graduate from Storybrooke High in the spring. What are the chances he's at school right now?"

"Probably not too high." Kathryn shook her head.

Regina nodded in agreement. "If he's smart and truly is involved in this crime, he wouldn't go there. But I suppose it won't hurt to try."

"I'll try to go to his house first, see if maybe the parents will know any alternate people to talk to like his friends or when he was last seen."

Emma wrote down the address on her case notepad, and then put the folder back in its place.

"Make sure to put it in its correct spot." Regina pointed out.

"Yeah, making sure."

"I don't want to find the files out of place, Ms. Swan."

"Seriously Regina, I'm making sure!" Emma huffed, "Not that it'll matter until this handle is fixed."

In the next second the handle flew out from on top of the cabinet where Emma had left it, and reattached itself to the cabinet. "Problem solved, Sheriff."

"I hate you."

"Duly noted."

Kathryn stayed quiet during this exchange, making sure all the boxes were stacked properly once more. But she could see that both women were just joking around thankfully. If Regina's main shield against the town were to stop supporting her, they'd be in big trouble. Not that Kathryn could see it ever happening. Emma cared for Regina, that much was obvious. Perhaps only because of the child they shared, but she knew that Emma would not back out of her role, even if Regina threatened her to leave it.

After everything was back in its proper place, they left the room and went back upstairs. Once the three women had reached Kathryn's desk, Emma started to make her way to the door, but Regina called out, stopping Emma in her tracks. "Oh and Ms. Swan? Please keep me updated will you?"

Emma turned back around, and flashed a smile. "Will do, Madam Mayor."

* * *

Emma turned onto Shepherd's Lane and started looking around the house numbers. Number 16, number 16, where was it? After a few houses passed by, Emma spotted it. She turned onto the driveway and parked her car beside a grey Sedan. Checking to make sure she had the right address, Emma got out of the car and made her way to the door. Seeing the car parked on the driveway, she knew someone had to be home.

Looking around, Emma saw that it was a modest house. Not too big, but it was well decorated. Mr. Pottage clearly took great pride in his gardening work and demonstrating his professional side. But now was not the time to stop and smell the roses - literally. She walked up to the door and rang the doorbell.

She didn't have to wait long, a frazzled woman that Emma assumed was Mrs. Pottage opened the door. Emma could see right away this woman hadn't slept in days, seeing all the telltale signs she herself lately sported most of the week. "Mrs. Pottage?"

"Yes?" The other woman was giving her an odd look. Probably trying to place her within the myriad of people that occupied the town.

"I'm Sheriff Emma Swan, I'm here to talk to you about your son. Is-"

Emma barely had time to react before the woman had grabbed Emma by the lapels of her leather jacket, shaking her for answers. "Oh no! Please tell me my boy is alright! He can't be dead!" 

"Mrs. Pottage!" Emma grabbed the other woman by her shoulders, trying to first stop the woman from shaking her. The older woman seemed to come back to herself and hastily let go of her jacket. Emma also backed off, taking a deep breath. This woman was in the middle of an emotional breakdown, she had to be careful with her words. "To the best of my knowledge, your boy is not dead. I'm just trying to find him. Do you think I can come in?"

It seemed that Mrs. Pottage finally realized her manners and gave a shaky smile, standing aside to let Emma in. Once inside, the Sheriff followed the matron towards the living room. "Something to eat or drink?"

"No thank you," Emma smiled, and sat down on the couch in front of Mrs. Pottage, who had also sat, and was nervously wringing her hands. She took out her notepad, and put then pen poised on top of it to start writing. "Mrs. Pottage, when was the last time you saw your son?"

"Thursday. But I suppose two days ago is more accurate, since that's the last we heard from him. So, Sunday." Clearly she had been keeping count religiously.

Emma's eyes widened. It had been a while. "Why didn't you report this to us earlier? We could've been helping to search for him."

"We- my husband Barry wanted to do that, but Ms. Jenkins, our neighbour - a lovely woman, even if she does own too many cats - suggested against it. She told us about all the drama surrounding the Queen and all that hubbub with the secret admirer was too much for us. We tend to keep away from all of that, we're more of a quiet group of people."

Great, she was dealing with the wallflowers. "Mrs. Pottage, please don't think that's the case. If you had submitted a missing persons report, we would've done everything our power to find him."

"But as I understand it, you're our sole police force in this town. I'd hate to take away from protecting the town just for my reckless boy. He has done this before and come back, I didn't want to start crying wolf so soon."

Emma bit down on the need to counter what Mrs. Pottage had just said, and put on her best practised smile, one she was sure even Regina would be proud of. "Well that's neither here nor there Mrs. Pottage. I'm here now, can you tell me what happened?"

Mrs Pottage nodded and launched herself into the tale. "Oh of course. This all started last week, on Thursday morning. Or rather, Wednesday night. He mentioned that he was going to hang out with some friends, but he failed to mention when he'd be back. By midnight, Bobby hadn't come back home, and we were frantic. We didn't sleep that night, and at 5am, he came back. He was looking ragged and he had wood splinters sticking out of his jacket like he was some kind of porcupine. It was obvious he had tried to get rid of as much evidence as he could, but he wasn't too thorough. He looked like he'd just had to do heavy labour. His eyes were shot and he hung his arms as if they were made of lead. You should've seen the way he was dragging his feet too. And yet he still tried to subtly go up to his room, as if we wouldn't notice.

"Well my husband raised a storm, and with good reason. It was a school night and he had been gallivanting around town like there wasn't a care in the world. And I had told him countless times to be careful because there were bad people that could hurt him around town." Emma didn't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out who Mrs. Pottage was referring to. But the older lady had no shame, and carried on. "Well they ended up getting into a terrible argument about responsibility and maturity.

"After a while Bobby just started yelling about how he was his own man, how he needed no one in his life. Then he stomped up to his room and locked the door. Some hours later he left for school and didn't come back home. He stayed over with his girlfriend Gilda during the weekend, her father mentioned it to Barry to assuage any fears we might've had. So during the weekend we knew he was safe, even if he wasn't with us.

"But then on Sunday night he just left their house, claiming that he was going to make something of himself. Or at least that's what Harry, Gilda's father, told us from what Gilda confided in him." Emma had to ask her to repeat it once more, trying to figure out how the tongue twister went. Once she ironed it out, she prompted her to continue. "Well we've tried calling him countless times, we've searched his usual hang out places; he hasn't even been to school! We're so worried about him."

Emma finished writing her notes and then launched into her questions. "So Gilda is Bobby's girlfriend. What's her last name?"

"Lox. L-O-X."

"Right. And they've been together for a while?"

"Yes, started last year during the curse I suppose, and continued after that."

"And you've mentioned he's had problems with his father before?"

"Yes, he and my Barry always go toe-to-toe; Bobby is a very headstrong young man, he doesn't understand that we're just looking out for him. He wants independence and freedom, but he also thinks it'll come easily to him like it was in the Enchanted Forest. We lived a very sheltered life back then, but here things are so different! We're not sure how to deal with it."

Emma raised an eyebrow at that. "Wait, who were you guys before the curse?"

"The Three Bears, as I believe we're called here."

Emma's eyes widened, and even her mouth joined in, gaping comically. No wonder they were feeling the disconnect. "Wait so you guys turned human when you were cursed, or were you guys shape-shifters?"

Mrs. Pottage shook her head. "No, we were simple and plain bears. We were a bit more humanoid than regular bears, but it worked for us. Then we were whisked away to this land and forced to deal with all of this nonsense. Honestly why couldn't we have been left alone?"

The Sheriff had no answer to that. "Well uhm... look I'm sorry for all the discomfort and trouble-"

"Oh no Sheriff, you don't need to apologize.  _She_  does." Okay, so maybe they weren't such wallflowers, if the venom in the older woman's voice was enough of an indicator.

"Right. Anyway." Emma had to try her best to shift the conversation back onto safer topic. "Earlier you mentioned that Bobby had gone out with some friends. Any idea who they were?"

"No, he doesn't really talk to us about that kind of thing. He mostly keeps to himself, at dinner he barely says a word to us. The only reason why we know about Gilda is because Harry Lox is a good friend of my husband's, and Gilda had told _him_  about her boyfriend." Clearly this was another sore subject for Mrs. Pottage. Now Emma didn't claim to be an expert on animals, but if there was one thing that she knew, was that if you saw an angry bear, you were screwed.

So Emma decided that it was high time she wrapped things up and bowed out of here, as courteously as possible. "Well, Mrs. Pottage, thank you very much for your help, you've given me a lot of insight into the situation. But I must inform you of this. Your son might've been involved in two crimes this past week."

"No! What did he do?" Mrs. Pottage was beside herself, clutching her chest with one hand, the other splayed out on the couch's arm.

"Well, he might've stolen Mr. Nelson's woodworking supplies-"

Mrs. Pottage interrupted her with a gasp. "But Mr. Nelson is such a good man, and talented! We actually own a bit of his work, and he used to be good friends with us even before the curse."

"Yeah well, you just mentioned that your son was out on the night of the theft. And he came back with wood chips all over him. And his truck bed also has left over wood strewn out and about."

"His truck? Where did you find it?"

"Well, that's his second infraction. Your son tried to run me over last night, and subsequently also ran from the law when I tried to pursue him. Technically that's 3 infractions, but for his sake, I'm counting the last two as one infraction. He abandoned it in the forest."

Mrs. Pottage looked beside herself, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to figure out what to say.

Emma decided to take charge and keep talking, "Look, Mrs. Pottage, I know it's not easy to hear that your son has been implicated in these crimes, and I know the first instinct is to protect him, but I just want to help your son before he does something infinitely worse. I will do everything in my power to find him and bring him home, but he won't be able to get away scot-free from this."

"Oh that's fine, Sheriff. He needs to know his place," Mrs. Pottage nodded.

"He'll probably get some time doing community service, nothing too grave, just enough to make him think twice before committing a crime."

"Of course Sheriff."

Both women stood up and made their way to the door. Once Emma was over the threshold, she said her final bit. "Look, Mrs. Pottage, if your son shows up for any reason, please call me. I'd also recommend that you don't let him know that he's in trouble with me, otherwise he might go for something more drastic and run away again. The same goes for your husband. Let him know what's going on, and I'll get to the bottom of it as soon as I can."

Mrs. Pottage smiled, tears prickling her eyes. "Thank you Sheriff. I'm glad to see that there's someone here we can count on."

Emma responded in kind with her own smile, and a nod. "That's what I'm here for. Have a good day."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was this chapter! It was originally going to be even longer, but I felt that splitting it up here would be nice. It was already at 6,000+ words!
> 
> Now, I'm 90% sure that I'll be making an upcoming chapter mostly a flashback scene. The next one will be the other half of this chapter, meaning more Emma investigating, but after that it'll be a flashback scene. I wanted to iron out what exactly happened after the curse, Regina and Henry patching things up, the big fight between Emma and her parents etc. I feel like everyone will understand the story much better with that background in there.
> 
> Let me know what you thought about this chapter!


	7. Threats

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised part 2! Well, we're up to chapter 7, but I feel like this investigation counts as a big whole thing...and anyway!
> 
> This is little bit later than what I had anticipated, but the length of this thing just kept on running away from me.
> 
> So Emma is after a missing teenager with issues, ooooh.
> 
> One thing that I will be changing in regards to this story's canon is the fact that in the show, Storybrooke was stuck in its own Groundhog day for 28 years. That to me seems like a bit of a cop out for all the show was trying to do, so instead, here it's going to be that they all just held humdrum lives for 28 years. Things happened but no one grew up or changed and no one questioned it.
> 
> Also I realized that in the 5th chapter, I mentioned that in the next chapter [chapter 6] we'd see Henry trying to piece the puzzle together, and he didn't even appear in that chapter. Worry not! Detective Henry will start his investigation soon enough! I just hadn't originally planned on splitting the chapter in two.
> 
> Unfortunately there won't be much on the Serenader in this chapter until the last part, but anyway!
> 
> And this chapter is much longer than any of the previous ones I've had, it's currently the longest I've written ever. Hopefully everyone enjoys it!

By the time Emma made it back to her car, she was already dialing for Town Hall.

"Good morning, Mayor's Office, how may I direct your call?" Emma's heart went out to Kathryn. It wasn't even 10am yet, and she already sounded done with the world. Or at least with Storybrooke.

"Hey Kathryn, it's me; is Regina available?"

"Sheriff! Yeah she should be, I'll let her know you're on the phone."

Emma waited as she started the engine and manoeuvred out of the parking pad, heading out towards the local high school.

"Sheriff, is everything alright?" Regina's voice filtered into her ear after a few minutes. Emma had nearly forgotten about the call, so when she heard Regina's voice, she flinched, nearly swerving the car onto the sidewalk with her jerky movement. Thankfully there hadn't been anyone on the street to catch the Sheriff making a grade A fool of herself.

"Yeah." Emma caught her breath for a second before continuing. "You asked for me to check up with you once I made any progress with the Pottage case?"

"Oh yes, right." It seemed impossible, but it almost sounded like Regina was disappointed that the call hadn't been about something else. Regina couldn't actually be wanting to talk to her just for the sake of it or worried about her, right? Nah that'd be impossible. There was probably a clear reason, maybe she was looking to hear about the Serenader, or to poke fun at something she must've done. "Ms. Swan? Are you still there?"

Damn it, twice in one day, Emma really needed sleep, she was starting to get way too easily distracted. "Yeah, sorry. So I went to the Pottages', they're the freaking 3 bears!"

"Oh right, yes. Pottage."

It clearly seemed like Regina finally found a connection between the names and their fairy tale identities. Emma was still in the dark, so she ground out, "Any chance of enlightening me, Madam Mayor, or am I going to have to keep guessing?"

"My apologies, Ms. Swan, I thought you had made the connection already. Pottage is the Archaic English equivalent for porridge, which as you might remember in their tale, was how the trio met Goldilocks."

"Well look who's punny," Emma smirked, even though Regina couldn't see it. "But there was no way in hell I was going to get it. I don't know a lick of any kind of English that isn't modern, or some butchered up Shakespearean stuff."

"They don't teach that in the schools of this world?" Regina sounded genuinely puzzled.

Emma snorted in laughter. "Nope, they don't really care about that stuff here. Unless I missed the 'Archaic English for dummies' class listing at my local school."

Regina's affronted huff was the only answer Emma got.

The high school was getting nearer so Emma decided to wrap things up. "Well anyway, Mrs. Pottage basically confirmed that Bobby was out and about on the day of the theft, saying he had wood chips and splinters sticking out of him like a porcupine. And he hasn't been home since Thursday morning."

"The child's been missing for nearly a week?" Regina was beside herself in anger.

"Not exactly, he was crashing with his girlfriend during the weekend, and apparently their parents are all friends or something so they kept each other updated. He's been missing since Sunday night."

"And pray tell why is it that this is the first I heard of it?"

"That's what I asked her! But she fed me this cock and bull story about not wanting to take away from my work as the sole police force in this town. Apparently the kid does this often. Has heated argument with dad, leaves for a few days to cool off, and then comes home. She's also one hell of a mama bear, so I didn't want to press too much."

Regina chuckled. "I have no doubt Sheriff. So where are you headed now?"

"School. Going to check up on his girlfriend, see if maybe he told her anything else before leaving that she didn't tell her dad."

"Very well, let me know what happens. Oh and Ms. Swan, you can call me on my cellphone, no need for the formality and calling to my office."

Emma smiled sheepishly, she had completely forgotten about that. "Right. Talk to you later."

"Good luck dear." It was such a noncommittal comment and Emma knew that dear was just a general term of affection for Regina, but it still made Emma feel the butterflies in her stomach flutter as a grin broke out on her face.

"Thanks." After Emma hung up, she cursed herself, how could she be so nonchalant about it? She was sure Regina probably thought she didn't appreciate the luck wish, but it was actually just Emma not knowing what to do with herself.

* * *

Once Emma got inside the school, she went to the office, stopping in front of the secretary's desk. After the curse broke, Ashley decided that serving at the diner wasn't the best gig for her, and switched over to become a secretary at the school. "Hey Ashley."

The first thing she noticed was Ashley's bizarre reaction at seeing Emma. A few seconds before the now present fake smile graced her face, Ashley's eyes had widened in fear at seeing the Sheriff standing before her. It reminded Emma of when criminals came face-to-face with police, and that fleeting look of guilt and trepidation appeared on their faces as they realized they were caught. But Emma decided to file this occurrence away rather than confront her about it, now she had a case to take care of.

"H-hey Emma, how's it going?"

"It's going. Listen I'm looking for two students, can you help me out? It's for a case."

Seeing that Emma's business here was not whatever she had feared it was, Ashley relaxed considerably, the smile widening and softening. "Sure, what're their names?"

"Well first I need you to check for Bobby Pottage. I have a hunch he's not actually here, but it never hurts to check. If he's not here, I need you to call Gilda Lox down so I can have a talk with her."

"Sure." Ashley set out to look through the computer for the two kids to see what classes they had. While she searched, she asked without looking up, "Are they in trouble?"

"Bobby? Yeah he's in a world of trouble. Gilda might just have information that can help me find him."

"Oh, I see. You think she knows more because they're dating?"

Emma did a double take. Was it public knowledge? Granted she didn't exactly make it her mission to be aware of all the gossip around town, but she thought herself as pretty well-informed on the happenings of Storybrooke. Apparently not enough.

Now Ashley had looked up. Seeing Emma's stunned face, she smiled. "They hung out at the diner a lot. Ruby and I had bets going until they dated, kissed, etc."

Of course. Granny's diner was the source of gossip, and her part time deputy was in on it. "Right."

"Ah here they are. They have math class together. Just give me a moment."

Emma nodded and backed a few steps to sit on one of the visitor's chairs while her friend picked up the phone and called the classroom in question.

"Hi, may I speak with Mr. Drew?" A few minutes of silence and then Ashley begun again, talking with the teacher. "Hi Carl, I was looking for a couple of your students, I'm wondering if you can help me? " A few seconds passed. "Yeah is Bobby Pottage with you today?"

Emma looked intently at the face of her friend, trying to decipher her reaction. Her mouth was scrunched up in thought, listening to Carl speak, nodding slowly. He wasn't in school.

"Right, I see. Well, can you send down Gilda Lox?" Clearly Emma's trip hadn't been in vain as Ashley smiled. "Great! Thanks so much."

Emma stood back up as Ashley hung up the phone. "She's coming down?"

"Yep, should be here in a bit."

True to her word, a little while later, a girl with very curly blonde hair was walking into the office. "Hi Mrs. Herman, you wanted to see me?"

Ashley looked up and smiled at the teen, pointing to where Emma stood. "Actually, she does."

Emma walked towards the girl, putting on a friendly smile. "Hi Gilda, I'm Emma Swan-"

"You're the Sheriff." Gilda said it with apprehension, as if she knew what this was about.

"Yep, that's me. Listen I need to talk to you about Bobby-"

The mood changed automatically as the teen heard her boyfriend's name. "What happened?! I know he was an idiot but I didn't think he was  _such_  an idiot and-"

It seemed that the women in Bobby's lives were the type that always jumped to the worst conclusions. Mimicking her actions earlier to calm Mrs. Pottage, Emma put her hands on the teen's shoulders, but this time she was gentler. "Hey Gilda, I know you're worried about him, and I want to find him as much as the next person, but I need your help to do it, okay?"

Gilda nodded, and Emma saw that there were tears threatening to fall.

"How about we sit here and you can tell me what you know, okay?" The girl wordlessly nodded once more, flopping onto one chair while Emma took another. Out of the corner of her eye, Emma saw that Ashley was listening, though she feigned to be filing papers and checking things on her computer. "Now, when was the last time you saw Bobby?"

The girl took a deep breath to steady her breathing. "Sunday night."

Emma made a note on the notepad she had whipped out. So far so good. "And did he say anything to you before he left?"

"Yeah." Gilda nodded quickly before continuing. "He said he was leaving to prove a point, and that he was going to make a name for himself to show how responsible and mature he could be and that he didn't need to be babied around. He had just had an argument with his dad on Thursday... they've always fought and argued, but this time it seemed like Bobby had had enough of his parents."

"Specific reason why you think that?"

"Bobby told me. Other times after he argued with them he'd cool off and be ready to accept what they were saying, even if he didn't agree with them. But this time he wouldn't cool off. I think he's lost his patience with them."

"Patience in regards to what?"

"Well, Bobby and his family...they weren't always human..." Here Gilda started to falter.

Emma was quick to assure her with a smile. "Don't worry, I know."

The teen returned the smile in kind and continued. "Well, because of  _that_ , they've always kept to themselves in the Enchanted Forest, staying away from humans. Now that they  _are_  human, they're feeling this disconnect. They're not sure how to do things, and they're too proud to ask for help from humans. They barely trust my dad, but since they knew him from before the curse, they're a bit more lax around him. But unlike them, Bobby took his transformation in stride and he's ready to do things like any other human, but his parents keep sheltering him, scared that he'll get himself killed or something."

Emma nodded throughout the explanation. Now things made more sense. The Pottage adults were too self-conscious to admit they were scared shitless about this world, but their child had embraced his magically adopted culture and was ready to blast off into the real world, something which frightened the adults. Although she couldn't understand the whole bear-turned-into-a-human situation, she'd heard from plenty of friends and kids she had kept in touch with from group homes who spoke of over-protective parents and how suffocating it was.

"I see. So you knew him before the curse too then?"

The girl nodded. "Yeah, I was Goldilocks."

Emma was really going to need a list of 'Who's Who in Storybrooke'. And have a talk to Regina about curbing her punny intentions. "Do you have any idea where he was on Wednesday night?"

"Wednesday..." Gilda took a few moments to remember. "Oh, he went out with some...friends."

Emma sensed there was more to that explanation. "You don't seem too sure that they're his friends."

"Bobby considers them his friends, but I don't think they see it the same way."

"Who are you talking about?"

"The Wayward Gang." Gilda looked around the room, suddenly scared.

Suddenly a thump was heard, and Emma whipped her head to the source of the noise. Ashley had dropped a bin to the ground onto the carpeted floor. Although Emma could understand that Ashley was clearly still antsy about the Wayward Gang's attack from last week, this seemed like something deeper and more complex caused Ashley's fright. Emma made a mental note to check up on her after she was done with Gilda.

Now it made sense though, Emma thought, bringing her mind back to the matter at hand and Gilda's revelation. The Gang's involvement in the crime was much more understandable than just randomly having a teen take to stealing from Mr. Nelson, considering he had no previous antecedents in crime and Mr. Nelson was a kind of family friend for the Pottages. But the question still remained; why? "Has he been with them long?"

"Not too long. A couple of months at most though, yeah."

That fact surprised Emma, she hadn't seen him in all the times she had busted those delinquents' asses, and expressed as much. "Huh, never saw him with them."

"They weren't too keen on taking him on. They're a closed off group." Gilda began to fidget with her hands. "He kept telling me he'd join them and show everyone just how independent he can be, but they turned him down every time. I was with him once at the park and they were there too. That's when he told me about wanting to join them, I didn't know about it beforehand."

Emma nodded thoughtfully. "Do you think that's where he went after he left on Sunday?"

Gilda nodded. "I've tried to call and text him, but I've gotten no answer. I'm so worried about him, and I know his parents are too. My dad was actually planning on going later to talk to you about filing a report. I know Bobby's parents aren't going to do it. Their neighbour talked them out of it or something; like I said, they're too proud."

"Hmm. Well I'm investigating his disappearance, plus he was involved in a couple of crimes..."

"Wait what?" It seemed Gilda wasn't too internalized in her boyfriend's life.

"On Wednesday night I think Bobby was complicit in helping the Wayward Gang steal Mr. Nelson's woodworking supplies. Last night your boyfriend nearly ran me over with his truck, and discarded the vehicle in the middle of the forest."

The teen's eyes were wide as saucers. "Oh my goodness, I hadn't imagined..."

"Well I have my doubts he wanted to join the Wayward Gang for health benefits. They're criminals Gilda. And dangerous ones." Emma could've sworn she heard Ashley hum in that 'got that right, Captain Obvious' way, but she continued to look at the distraught girl in front of her.

"Look, I'm doing my best to find him and bring him back, and once I do, I'll have a talk with him about how he can positively go about searching for independence. Sound good?"

Gilda meekly nodded. She was afraid for her boyfriend and the path he has taken, that much is obvious.

"Hey, don't worry, I'm sure he's fine and will come around soon. Now I think it's time you got back to class. Math isn't exactly a class you want to miss too much of." Emma tried to lighten the mood and counted it as a success when the teen grinned back at her.

"Thank you Sheriff." The girl hugged her tightly and Emma returned the gesture.

"No problem, I'll make sure to let you know if I find him, okay? Also, if he does show up or makes contact with you, let me know?"

"I will. Thanks again."

After the girl left, Emma rounded off to Ashley once more, who was 'busy' at her computer. "Crazy huh?"

Ashley feigned ignorance. "What was that?"

"Don't play dumb with me Ash, I know you were listening."

The secretary blushed at that. "Alright fine, it was kinda hard not to. Force of habit and all."

"Sure," Emma drawled with a smirk. "I'll believe that because you're my friend. Anyway, why'd you panic when Gilda mentioned the Wayward Gang?"

"What? No I didn't." Ashley was quick to disagree.

"So you just coincidentally dropped the bin at the same time Gilda mentioned them."

"It's possible."

"But not probable. Come on Ash. They're currently under very strict supervision of Leroy as they work out their long term of community service. They're having to clean up the dung from the animal shelter with a crossbow aimed at their behinds. They can't hurt you. What's wrong?"

"I...it's nothing." Ashley turned back to her computer, trying to pretend the conversation was over.

But Emma was not going to back down. She made her way around the counter, and sat on the desk beside the computer Ashley was staring at, glass-eyed. "Sure it is; it's about as 'nothing' as an elephant in a room. Come off it Ash, what is it?"

Ashley sighed, seeing she wasn't going to get the persistent Sheriff to drop it. Her voice dropped lower, so much so that Emma had to lean down to catch what the other woman said. "We...there was more to their motive for wanting to attack us last week."

Emma paled. She had gone over to get their statement the morning after the attack. Ashley and little Alex were fine, but Sean had sported few punches and was nearly gutted. They had told her that they had been attacked because they were easy victims. Emma had assumed as much because it wasn't as if the family was rich, and they didn't really have any weight in the town to be worth threatening over, plus the Wayward Gang had said the same thing. They claimed they were bored and looking for some fresh entertainment, so the Gang went to rile them up. Of course they hadn't counted on a very cranky Sheriff to roundhouse kick their precious leader into submission. "Wait what? Why didn't you tell me?"

"They threatened to hurt Alex if we were to ever mention it to you! She's with Ruby, we know she'll protect her best." The way she looked at Emma with panicked eyes, clutching Emma's wrist in a vice grip made her stomach clutch. What the hell did those idiots want?

"And what story did you feed Ruby to make her take the babysitting gig?"

"Well Ruby has a soft spot for her from my last few months at the diner when I used to take Alex to work with me. Plus I told her that our previous baby sitter quit, which is true. She was having kittens at learning that we were attacked."

"Why not keep her with you or Sean?"

"Because they wanted something from Sean. We were afraid they'd go back and try to threaten him again somehow and with Alex there, they'd have ready leverage. And the principal, Mr. Stork, doesn't like kids crying, so I could hardly keep her here."

Emma nodded. "What did they want from Sean?"

"They... _please_  promise me you won't mention that  _I_  told you this?"

The Sheriff nodded, trying not to wince at how hard Ashley's nails were digging into her wrist. "Promise."

"They wanted to get Sean to free up one of the cannery warehouses for their personal use."

"Wait what?" Out of everything that Emma had been expecting, that was not it. "Why?"

"I don't know. They said they needed the storage space, and one of the cannery buildings would serve them just fine. Sean kept telling them no, and I think they were about to threaten us to get him to comply when you showed up."

"Impeccable timing is my middle name." Emma smiled, tried to lighten the situation a bit. Plus her wrist was screaming sweet mercy to be let go.

Ashley grinned at the quip, relaxing her grip on Emma's wrist. It was then that she realized she was mangling her friend's wrist. "Oh geez I'm sorry Emma!"

Emma brushed it off, even though she was thanking multiple deities for the feeling that was slowly returning to her wrist, flexing it lightly. "It's alright. Look don't worry; you, Sean and Alex are safe. I'll make sure to invest on some protection for you somehow. And I'll get to the bottom of things. I think I have a hunch as to what they wanted with the warehouse. Time to get back to investigating and interrogating! Thanks for the help Ash."

As Emma jumped down from the desk, Ashley grabbed hold of Emma's other wrist, though thankfully not as tightly. "Thank  _you_  for looking out for us Emma."

Emma nodded as the secretary let go of her hand, flashing a grin. "Always am Ash."

* * *

She was dialing for Regina's cell phone before she even left the school building. Regina answered in one ring. "Ms. Swan. Any news?"

"Yeah, plenty. Apparently Bobby has been trailing behind the Wayward Gang like a lost puppy, wanting to get in with them, though they don't give him the time of day. And they were also involved in the theft of Mr. Nelson's stuff."

Emma heard Regina sigh loudly. She could just imagine the mayor sinking her head into her hand, massaging her temple as this case got increasingly more complicated. "As if those miscreants weren't involved in enough crimes in this town. This is their second one within a month! They were fine at first and then it's like someone lit them on fire. I don't see why we don't just banish them once and for all."

"Because the town insists on trying to reform criminals? If we dished out justice  _vigilante style_  everyone would have our heads for it."

"No dear. Everyone would have  _my_  head for it. You're the White Knight, remember?"

Emma was loathe to admit, but the other woman was right. Regina couldn't do anything without someone trying to fault her for it. Even if it was the right thing to do. "Okay fair point. But still. Mary Margaret and David insisted that giving them a chance to atone for their mistakes would make them change their ways."

Regina gave a disbelieving scoff in response, and Emma immediately knew she said the wrong thing. She just basically confirmed to Regina that her parents were more willing to give another chance to a bunch of highway robbers gone rogue than to Regina. "And they chose a marvelous group of people to be their guinea pigs."

She had to hand it to Regina, the woman could come up with some wonderful quips at the drop of a hat. "Well they're the next group I'm questioning, so I'll see first-hand how that 'reform' is going."

Emma had expected Regina to laugh the matter off, but instead she heard a hitch in her voice, and a sentence she never thought she'd hear from the brunette. "Be careful Emma."

"Y-yeah, you know me!" She didn't know how else to respond without sounding like a total goof or making Regina think she wasn't appreciative for the encouraging words. It was the second time today that Regina had let Emma speechless and unsure of what to say.

"Yes Ms. Swan, I do, and your proclivity for getting into trouble resonates as someone who's not being the most careful of people out there."

"Would you believe me if I said that trouble finds me?"

"Not a chance Ms. Swan. Now I believe we should both carry on with our jobs. And remember-"

"Keep you updated. Yes Regina, I've gotten the message. Haven't I been doing just that for the past hour?"

"You can never be too sure."

"Pretty sure that if I kept you any more updated people would start to think I'm a clingy lover or something." And Emma decided to go for the 'stick foot in mouth' route. Go Swan.

The line was silent for a minute, and Emma would bet good money that if Regina had been in the process of drinking anything, she'd have currently spat it all back out. But instead she eventually received a scornful "Ms. Swan!"

"I'm just sayin'."

"Yes I can clearly hear that.  _Good day_  Ms. Swan."

Well, if the clipped response and final click that ended the conversation was any indication, Emma just blew it up big time.

* * *

Before going to talk to the Wayward Gang, Emma decided to first head over to the Marine Garage. Someone had to tow Bobby's truck back into town, plus it could be used to lure out the evasive teen.

"Hey Emma, what can I do for you? Your bug having problems again?" Michael came up to her, wiping his hands on an already greasy rag.

"Nah, the bug's still kicking. I need you to tow me a truck. It was abandoned last night and might be helpful in an investigation."

"Sure thing, where exactly?" The town's mechanic shifted over towards the desk, dropping the rag onto it and picking up a pad of paper.

Emma smiled sheepishly. "That's the problem. It was abandoned in the middle of the forest, out of the way from the road. I can accompany you there?"

"Yeah sure that'd be great. Let me just lock up front and let Billy know I'm gonna be gone for a couple of minutes. You can wait next to the tow truck."

Emma nodded and made her way to the truck. 10 minutes later and Michael was striding over to her. He had ditched the overalls that he had on, now wearing a simple jeans and t-shirt combo. As they rode out they were silent, except for the occasional directions Emma gave in response to Michael's questions.

"So what happened?" he asked, drumming his thumbs over the steering wheel.

"Simply put, an idiot tried to run me over last night with his vehicle and then ditched the vehicle after I started to chase him down." Emma didn't really want to give out too much information to the mechanic. She was still wary of the man.

She had mostly forgiven Michael for his actions during the curse regarding taking care of his kids. Although the curse was to blame for the little hiccup in his reluctance to being a parent, she was a bit peeved at thinking the man was actually going to go through and let his kids go. It resonated something within Emma, bringing out the whole being abandoned by her parents heartache. Seeing him now with his kids was like seeing a whole different man interacting with Nicholas and Ava. She was warming up to him, but she still held her reservations. People were usually consistent with their actions, so Emma felt justified in her wariness.

"Ah, I see." And they went back into silence, nothing but the sounds of the motor filling up the awkward air between them.

Half an hour later they had finally found the truck, left where it had been. Although it was light out, it had taken them a while to locate it. She had misjudged the distances from when she had passed by last night, but in her defense, she was at the time more worried that she was dealing with a crazed madman in the middle of an expansive forest rather than her geographical location for future reference.

"Seems to be in pretty good shape." Michael commented.

"Yeah but I don't have any keys to drive it back into town." Emma shrugged, watching as Michael worked to attach the pickup truck onto his tow truck.

By the time they were going back to town, it was nearly lunch time. Emma gave the mechanic strict instructions to keep the truck locked up in the garage, and if the kid showed up to try and take it back, to stall and call her ASAP.

After finishing up with Michael, she grabbed a quick bite at Granny's, updating Ruby on the case with what she learned so far. She kept Ashley's confession to herself for now. She knew that the information her friend had given her was a very sensitive matter, and although she loved Ruby and knew the girl had good intentions, she also knew that the werewolf ran her mouth like nobody's business.

* * *

It was 1pm when she got out of her car and walked over to the animal shelter. She found Leroy sitting on a haystack outside of the stables, crossbow leaning against the hay. He was chewing on a sub while he barked orders at the delinquents, condiments and bits of lettuce flying everywhere.

Before making herself known she just watched the scene, wondering how she was going to play this out.

The Wayward Gang used to be highway robbers in the old world, stealing to continue living, because feeding off of scraps was not their way of life. They were brothers, fiercely protective of one another, and especially of their youngest brother, Timmy, who was the same age as Henry. The others were well into their twenties and late teens. Timmy had been adopted into the family after having run away from his old family, and the six brothers had taken a shine to the boy.

They'd never had fear of consequences, thinking only of the moment. If they ended up screwing things up royally then...someone else could deal with it, it wasn't their problem. Coming to Storybrooke with the curse hadn't done wonders for their mentality. Two weeks after the curse had been lifted, had Emma not intervened, she was sure Regina would've been murdered by the Gang. Regina's magic was still trying to acclimatize to this world so she had been defenseless. Thankfully Emma had been walking by and stopped things before they got too far. Of course no one else considered it to be a crime, because attacking was fine as long as the Evil Queen was on the receiving end, according to town mindset. It was strange because they had been pacific at first, only doing petty crimes.

But now they were getting more desperate. Attacking the Hermans and Emma as collateral damage was bad enough, but adding poor Mr. Nelson's wood supplies to it? Emma was banking on getting approval to chuck their criminal asses to the other side of the line, effectively kicking them out of Storybrooke for good.

"Hey Leroy." Emma walked up to the dwarf, still munching away on his lunch.

"Sister." Leroy really wasn't a man of too many words, even less so now that he knew that Emma was very much willing to throw him into jail and defend the Evil Queen till kingdom come. He respected and loved Snow and Charming, but he had reserves about their daughter. He was fully convinced she was under some crazy mind control voodoo spell to make her stand up for Regina. He knew that the minute Emma revoked her support for Regina, they'd have a free for all. He was salivating for the moment that happened. Open Season on the Evil Queen, what could be better? It was a secret project Blue was working on, only a handful of them knew of it, but they'd figure it out and get Emma back to her senses. For now though, he'd just go along with things. "What can I do for you?"

"I need to talk to your charges. But first, your job."

He turned to look at her with a scowl. "What about it?"

"You're shirking your duties."

"You try having to be the janitor for half the town and see how you like it."

Emma wasn't backing down. "I'm not saying it's a dream job, I'm talking about how you haven't been cleaning things at Town Hall."

Leroy just snorted. "You don't honestly expect me to step foot in that building while the bitch is still in charge right? She's the one who put me in this freaking hell hole and dumped this shitty job on me. Like hell I'm going to give her the satisfaction of cleaning her place of work. If she's bothered with the dirt she can clean it herself. Or get the serenading idiot to do it for her. He's clearly willing to do any shit for her."

Emma was trying really hard to not punch Leroy in the face. She didn't understand how in the world David and Mary Margaret were supposedly close friends with this guy. But instead she decided snark and threats were the better option. "Actually I do expect you to do it. If not I'll keep fining you until you get your ass back on the job. I don't care if it was Regina or the freaking Bogeyman who got you the job. It's yours and you have to do it. If not I can always tell people in town to refuse to serve you alcohol and see how long you last."

"You can't do that, I'll get someone to buy it for me." The dwarf had put down his food and was staring at the blonde like she had grown another head. And Emma could see the fear peeking out, there was no way he was going to admit it, but she knew.

"Do you really want to test me, Leroy? I assure you that, if by tomorrow I don't see  _some_  proof that you're cleaning things up over there, I'll personally make sure that if even  _one_  drop of alcohol is in your vicinity, even if it's rubbing alcohol, I'll slap you with a fine so hard that even they will feel it." Emma pointed to the delinquents who were still shoveling away. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal." He made a mental note to talk to Blue about speeding up the process. She was even starting to act like her.

Emma didn't say another word and just stalked off. Leroy went back to chewing his food, staring at the retreating form of the Sheriff with a mix of apprehension and surprise.

* * *

"Alright listen up!" Emma stood a few paces back, arms crossed as the six young adults perked up at hearing her voice. "I have a bone to pick with your boss, so here's how it's going to work. I'm going to be asking him some questions, and he's going to be answering me  _truthfully_."

Seeing that she had their attentions, and no one was going to interrupt her, she continued. "Now why should you care? Because for every minute that your leader stalls in giving me an answer, or gives me a false answer, will be another day added to your punishment. Therefore, I'm informing all of you now so that if 5 months later you lot are still working your time off, you know who to blame. I'd highly suggest you to advise Maps here to do the right thing. So what do you say?"

Everyone turned to the 25 year-old, whispering to him, and Emma knew she had successfully made her point. She hated having to threaten people to do things, but in this town it was the only way things ever got through to them.

"Fine."

Emma smirked. "Great, walk with me."

The pair walked over to a picnic table under a tree and they sat down facing each other. The young man clasped his hands on top of the table and looked at her. "What do you want to know?"

"Hang on." Emma prepared her cell phone's timer, all she had to do was press a button and it would start tracking the time. She put it on the table so that the man could see it, but not try to snatch it from her. Time to put on her Bad Cop face. "Okay. Bobby Pottage."

There was a quick flash of something that passed over Maps' face. Before Emma could interpret what the look meant, he shrugged and said, "Don't know him."

"Who said I wanted to know if you knew him?" Emma responded, raising an eyebrow. She kept her eyes trained on the man's own blue eyes that peeked out under his long bangs.

"What else would you be here to ask me for Sheriff?" He scratched the stubble on his chin, the very image of nonchalance.

"Who knows. I just told you his name. You're the one who's got the guilty conscience and is answering questions that I haven't even posed." Emma smirked in response, seeing the man's expression darken. "Here's what I do know. You  _do_ know who Bobby is, and I want to know  _how_  you know him."

Emma tapped the phone to start counting, and Maps immediately thundered, "What the hell? I haven't even started answering you!"

"Precisely, you're stalling. So I'll ask again. How did Bobby come to get acquainted with the Wayward Gang?"

"How am I supposed to know?" he shrugged, crossing his arms and looking away.

"Well you wouldn't be a very good leader if you didn't know everyone your gang was associated with."

"We don't  _associate_  with anyone. It's just me and my brothers. No one else."

"I don't believe you."

Blue eyes met with hazel through jet black hair. She was riling him up, he knew that. But time was ticking and she clearly spared no mercy for them. His brothers would have his head for this. "So? Not my problem."

"Well you better make it your problem. I don't care if you take a week to tell me. That'll just mean many months more of having to do community service. So what do you prefer?"

At the silence, Emma prodded, "What have you got to lose by telling me? If you're not 'associated' with him, then why protect him?"

The man grumbled as he thought for a moment. He turned back to face his brothers. They were still working, Leroy ushering them on, but every now and then one of the boys would look up to see how things were going with the two of them. It seems that was what finally did it for him. "The shrimp was desperate to join us."

Emma paused the timer and took out her notepad, poised to write.

Without prompting, he continued. "He wanted to prove himself to us, he thought we were like a cool club or some shit. I turned him down every time, but he just kept coming at us."

"And eventually you relented?" Emma asked, remembering that Gilda implied he did manage to get in with them.

"Yeah I guess. He was useful because he had a truck and we needed a vehicle. But we never truly made him part of the Gang, we just included him in a few small jobs so he'd leave us alone."

"But that didn't happen?"

"No, he started acting like he had a right to be there."

Emma nodded thoughtfully. "So what's the last job he was in with you guys?"

Here Maps stopped. When he didn't answer right away, Emma continued the timer, looking at him expectantly.

"I'm not going to give you that information, it's confidential."

Emma was tired of playing this game. "Here's how we can do this,  _Matt_." She knew using his curse name would rile him up even more, so she was going to use that to her advantage. "I  _know_  the answer to what I just asked, but if  _you_  won't answer me, I won't stop the timer until this  _entire_  case is solved, meaning that you'll get a shit ton of time added on my timer, and probably at least a year added to your punishment, as well as your brothers', and I'm sure you don't want that. Or you can do the sensible thing and answer the goddamn question and let your pride take the fall. So what will it be?"

"We were stealing from Mr. Nelson."

Emma stopped the timer once more. "Why?"

"Why not?"

"Because I fail to see what you'd need with trunks of wood, wood chips and woodworking supplies." Emma started the timer again. "And since you seem so keen on continuing to stall, I'm going to change the game rules a bit."

"You can't do that!" Maps stood up with a huff, making the table shake.

The other boys looked over to them, pausing in their work. Leroy grabbed the crossbow and eyed them warily.

"I can and I will. You're not cooperating so it's clear this current arrangement isn't working. So from now on this timer will run until the questioning is over."

The man didn't say anything, just continued standing, leaning on his hands which were splayed over the table. If he was trying to look intimidating, Emma wasn't swayed. He would play along for now, and sat down. "Fine."

"So why did you steal from Mr. Nelson?" Emma looked up.

"We were just looking for a bit of fun." Maps shrugged.

"False." Emma's lie detector was pinging, so she levelled him with a look. "Need I remind you that I have a built-in lie detector?"

"Maybe we just wanted to have some forest decorations to add to our home, we miss the forest." Maps bowed his head and fidgeted with his hands, clearly playing the part of the nostalgic.

Emma wasn't buying this sentimental shit. "Then go camping or frolic in the woods or go buy some pine-cone air-fresheners. Plus I'm pretty sure you can't fit those tree trunks into your apartment. So I ask again: Why?"

"Ask as many times as you want, Sheriff, I'm not telling."

"Very well. Have it your way. Just know the timer will keep running while you don't answer."

"I don't care."

Emma shrugged. "Your funeral."

The man went to stand up but Emma glared at him. "Did I dismiss you?"

Now his look of boredom cracked, replaced with one of confusion, and Emma was sure a dash of fear was mixing in there "But you said-"

"I said that until you respond that question the timer will keep going, I didn't say I wasn't going to ask you other questions. I still have other things you need to answer." She had him there and he sat back down. "When was the last time you saw Bobby?"

"Yesterday I think." There was no harm in answering that, so he readily gave it away.

This was surprising to Emma. That meant that he was with the Wayward Gang on Monday. "Was he there for the whole day?"

"No."

"Okay, so when did he show up? And what did he want?"

"Late last night. He wanted to crash with us and I told him to hit the road. I made it clear to him we were only tolerating him, and that he wasn't one of us."

"You don't sugarcoat things, clearly." Emma noted.

"No want to." was the reply she received, as well as a shrug.

"Where did you hide Mr. Nelson's stolen goods?"

And they were back to an intense glaring showdown.

"Next question." Maps growled.

"Alright, so you owe me two questions then. Why and where. Let's shift gears a bit. I've been doing some thinking, and I still can't quite understand why you'd attack the Hermans."

"I told you last week; easy targets."

"And yet I don't believe you."

He scoffed. "You did at the time."

"Perhaps, but now that you admitted you were stealing from Mr. Nelson, a clearly easier target just the night before, I'm starting to doubt the veracity of what you had said that day. What did you want with them?"

"Not everything needs an answer, Sheriff Swan."

"In this case, it does." Emma really needed some answers to continue her investigation. "You still have the other two questions."

"Next question."

"Is this a game to you?"

"Of course." Maps leaned back with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. "I can do anything I want, and all that will happen is I get a slap on the wrist, the oh-so-dreaded community service, and then I can do whatever I want once I'm out. Everyone's too worried about the Evil Bitch and her lovesick Serenader puppy to care about anything else."

Emma reined in her want to go to Regina's defense, and instead said, "You won't be laughing once you get banished."

He guffawed. "Oh no what shall I do, I'll forget everything about the shitty life I've had up to now!"

Emma saw that David had come outside, arms crossed and standing near Leroy. From the looks of it, the dwarf had been putting him up to speed on the situation.

Clearly she had to try another tactic. Hearing his mocking speech gave her an idea. "Look, I get the whole shitty life, and devil-may-care attitude."

"I doubt it princess. You've had a silver spoon ready at your mouth since you were born."

Now it was Emma's turn to scoff and laugh. "How wrong you are. Or did you not know that as part of my whole shtick as the Saviour, I was abandoned as a kid, forced to live by my lonesome without anyone to help me? You at least have your brothers, and from what I understand, you had a mother for a while. I didn't have  _anyone_  for most of my life, except for one sorry excuse of an asshole who left me to take the fall for him when the going got tough. For the rest of those 28 years, I was mostly alone and unwanted."

It was a sobering thought for the Gang leader.

"If you had met me ten years ago, I'd have been in your shoes. I was doing petty crimes and conning people left and right. I would've hurt anyone if I thought they deserved it, and collateral damage wasn't a phrase in my book. I felt like they all owed me for the shitty life I had, so believe me when I say I get it."

"What changed?" It was subtle, but Maps had changed his demeanor. He wouldn't actually want to admit to anyone, but he was starting to find some respect for the blonde sitting in front of him.

"Well on the crime side, I got sent to jail and had a kid. I realized at that point that the type of life I was living wasn't healthy, and that I could find a more society-approved way to let out my anger to the world."

"So you joined the law?"

"Well bail bondsperson isn't exactly the law, but now yeah, I am I guess."

"Look if you're trying to get me to soften up because you can relate to me, you can drop it. You might have, but not everyone gets a happy ending."

Emma stood up. "Not my intention. Just sharing a little bit about me to get you to think while you decide when you're going to answer my questions."

"'When'? You seem a bit confident in your abilities Sheriff." Maps smirked, looking up at the blonde.

"Confident? Perhaps, but I also know that you want the best for your family, and I can help you get a fresh start. A second chance if you will, just like I had." She ripped a page from her notepad and wrote her cell number on it before handing it off to him. " _When_  you decide you want to talk, just give me a call."

* * *

When she got into her office, she practically collapsed on her chair. The peace and quiet was a blessing after her hectic morning and afternoon. It was already 3pm and she knew she'd soon have to go pick up Henry. Right now she was debating whether or not to call Regina.

After their less than stellar ending to the conversation this morning, Emma was sort of antsy. She hoped Regina hadn't really taken offense to it, she was just joking and poking fun at the woman. Since Emma was the type of person to throw caution to the wind, she grabbed her cell phone and dialed for the brunette.

1 ring, 2 rings...4 rings. Nothing. Looks like Regina was going to make Emma work for it. She hanged up and dialed for Town Hall.

"Good afternoon, Mayor's Office, how may I direct your call?" Kathryn's response made Emma smile a bit. She sounded even crankier than she had this morning, if it was possible.

"Hey Kathryn, it's me once again. Is Regina there?"

"Yeah, she should be, I thought she wanted you to call her cell?"

Emma gave a derisive snort. "I tried, I think she's giving me the cold shoulder from my comment this morning."

Kathryn chuckled a bit at that. "Oh yeah, she's going to grill you for it Sheriff. Not the smartest jest to make."

"It was an innocent joke, she didn't need to get all up in arms about it."

Kathryn knew that for Regina, it had been much more than a joke. When the brunette had hung up with the blonde, she was red-faced. Kathryn, who had come in to give her some files to check over, saw the usually stoic woman currently beet red and indignant at what she had just been told. For a woman like Regina, who had long devised a system of being impersonal, preventing her from getting attached to someone who might hurt her, such a joke was not well received. "Well she did. Do you want me to transfer you to her?"

"Do you think she'll fireball the phone? Wait,  _could_  a fireball be transferred through phone calls?" Emma smirked as she asked.

"I'll have the fire extinguisher at the ready." With a click, Emma was once more on hold.

"Ms. Swan." Emma cringed. The brunette's tone was icy. "To what do I owe this call?"

"You...uhm, you wanted me to keep you updated?"

"I seem to recall that you mocked me for that request the last time we spoke." Regina was deflecting, not really getting into the true reason of what bothered her. "So never fear, Sheriff, you have no need to keep me updated, I wouldn't want the eligible bachelors of Storybrooke getting the idea I was corrupting you just as I have with the Serenader."

Emma was flabbergasted. "What? No, Regina I wasn't trying to say that-"

"And yet Ms. Swan, you haven't attempted to rectify it until now. Therefore I'm tempted to believe you were saying  _exactly_  that."

She let out a frustrated sigh. "Regina will you just take it at face value? It was just a joke. Probably in bad taste considering the situation, but I swear I meant nothing by it."

"Then why say it? Surely you can think before you speak, Ms. Swan."

"I'm sleep deprived okay? I make immature jokes when I don't have enough sleep." Emma was trying to salvage however she could. Could she really have messed up that badly?

It seemed though, that thankfully she was in a forgiving mood. "I swear, I'll nail you to the bed one of these days and not let you get back to your job until you have a good night's sleep."

Emma smirked. Joking was good. "Can you do that to the bad guys of Storybrooke instead? I'd hate to have to chase someone down nailed to a bed."

"I'll just nail everyone in town to their bed and get some peace and quiet myself."

The blonde let out a laugh. "Sounds good to me."

The tone of the conversation quickly changed as Regina asked, "Did you make any further progress?"

"Kinda not really. I had Bobby's truck towed to the Marine Garage, that way we have some sort of leverage if he comes looking, and I talked to the Wayward Gang."

"And? Any news?"

"Not really. It was a mission and a half just trying to get him to confirm what I already knew. But from what I did get out of their precious leader, Bobby was pretty much looking for some street cred, and he thought the Wayward Gang would offer that to him. Apparently he thought he was in their little club but last night Maps kicked him to the curb - figuratively speaking - and I'm guessing that's where he was coming from yesterday when he tried to run me over. Kid must've been in a blind rage and just wanted to get away."

"Into the forest?"

Emma shrugged, despite the fact that Regina couldn't see it. "Probably offers some comfort to him."

"True. Do you know why they did it or where they hid Mr. Nelson's things?"

"Nope, he still owes me answers to those questions."

"You're still with them?" Emma could've sworn she heard a hitch in Regina's voice, almost sounding like she was...afraid? Impossible.

"No, I left Maps stewing on some things. I made it so that every minute I don't get an answer, it'll be another day added to their community service."

"Well done Ms. Swan. Seems you do have a good grasp of how to properly threaten someone."

Emma chuckled, "I might've fallen short on it, otherwise I wouldn't still be waiting for his answers. I did manage to threaten Leroy to once more take up his janitorial work at Town Hall."

"And how ever did you achieve that? I thought hell would freeze over before he even deigned to step into the same vicinity I was or had been in."

"Simple. I just promised him his personal prohibition era if he denied. Plus fining his ass if he tried to loophole his way around."

In a rare moment, Emma heard Regina laughing. She never would've thought she'd hear her laugh so openly, but it brought a smile to Emma's face. "Well done Ms. Swan."

Emma felt a surge of pride at that. It wasn't every day an ex-Evil Queen complimented someone's skills on threatening someone.

Once Regina regained her composure, she asked, "So you're just going to wait until that delinquent finally decides to notify you he wants to answer your questions?"

"Yep."

"You'll be waiting a very long time then. Are you sure you can let the investigation-"

"Don't worry Regina, I'm pretty sure he'll be calling me soon."

It was impossible to not notice the tone of surprise in Regina's voice. "Oh? How can you be so sure?"

Emma smiled despite having no audience to catch it. "I have my ways. I just gave him time to muddle over something."

"Ah. So what's next Sheriff?"

"Going to pick our kid up and then take him for a snack at Granny's." Neither woman wanted to comment on Emma's use of 'our kid'. Although for all intents and purposes Henry was both of theirs, and it was correct to label him as their son collectively, neither wanted to address the implications of what that meant. "Want me to swing by later on so he can hang with you for a bit?"

Regina looked at the pile of work on her desk. She really shouldn't get distracted, and yet..."That'd be wonderful, thank you."

"Alright, talk to you later Madam Mayor."

* * *

"Hey ma!" Henry rushed over to give her a bone-crushing hug, that Emma happily returned. After ten years of having never hugged the kid, Emma was cherishing the moments she got to partake in this before Henry became too cool for hugs.

"Hey kid, how was school?"

"Boring as usual. Where did you go last night?" The kid clearly wasted no time in getting right to the point, Emma thought wryly.

The two started walking over to Granny's, enjoying the good May weather, and she explained to him about the crazy driver, and her subsequent investigation. Henry was fascinated by it, he loved police work and dreamed of becoming a detective.

"So any idea where he is?"

"Nope, but I have a lead, I'm hoping he'll come forth soon to talk to me."

"Cool! Lets hope it doesn't bust." Henry jumped ahead to go up the small steps into the diner, making sure to hold the door open for her.

"Hey Em, hey Henry, take a seat and I'll be right over," Ruby greeted them with a smile. She was headed to another table laden with plates filled with hearty food.

The two followed the brunette's orders, sitting down in a booth.

"So, did the Serenader do anything new?" Henry asked, smiling.

"Yeah, apparently they paid your mom a visit last night."

"No way! What happened? Did he say anything? Where did they meet?"

Emma let out a laugh. "One question at a time kid."

Ruby chose then to approach them. "Ooh, what questions?"

The blonde rolled her eyes, throwing her friend a look. "The Serenader paid Regina a visit last night."

The brunette flitted from shock to looking absolutely affronted. "Excuse me, why am I only hearing about this  _now_?"

"It slipped my mind, honestly." It was actually more because Emma knew that if she had sat down to talk to Ruby about it, she'd need a good hour to field all the questions.

Ruby looked around to make sure no one was in dire need of service, and made some movements with her hand. "Scooch over Henry, I have to hear this."

Once the two pairs of eyes were staring intently at Emma, Ruby urged, "Spill woman!"

"Alright alright. This is just what Regina told me okay, so I don't know everything that happened."

"Don't care. Anything's good."

So Emma launched into her tale. "So apparently the Serenader showed up last night at our apartment to give Regina flowers apologizing for their blunder the day before, running into her and everything. Although it was just supposed to be a simple gesture, the Serenader hadn't left by the time Regina entered the place."

"So she saw who it was?" Henry piped up excitedly.

"Not really. Their face was obscured with a hood."

"Did he say anything or do anything or did he just run away when she saw him?" Ruby asked.

"Apparently they exchanged some words, and then they uh, they kissed." Emma really wanted to whip out her phone and snap a candid of the two facing her. Their looks were priceless.

"My mom and the Serenader  _kissed_?" Henry looked halfway between ecstatic and disgusted and Emma was really tempted to burst out laughing.

"Yep."

"And she hasn't burned the town down, I'm guessing she liked it." Leave it to Ruby to make a salacious comment. "So, what did they talk about?"

Emma shrugged. "She asked them who they were, they denied answering that question, but let her ask any other question."

"What did she ask?" Henry was positively brimming with excitement.

"Why they were doing this."

"And what did  _he_  say?"

Emma laughed. "Calm down you two, I'm getting to it. Well they said that they like her, and apparently they're shy of actually asking her out, choosing to instead just send her these messages."

Ruby nodded. "Understandable, Regina's not exactly the easiest person to have a crush on."

"Ewww." Henry screwed his face up. He didn't need to be hearing this.

Before Emma could rebuke, her phone started buzzing. She accepted the call with a standard greeting. "Emma speaking."

"Sheriff. I'm ready to talk."

She grinned, "Great. Where do you want to meet?"

"The Station. We're already here."

"See you in a bit." She hung up and started making her way out of the booth, pulling out her wallet in the process. "Duty calls, I think this should cover it, if not, put it on an IOU and I'll pay you back later."

Ruby nodded, and gave an easy smile as she pocketed the money. "Don't worry, it's not like you can go too far where I can't hunt you down."

"I can go into the real world." Emma responded with a wink. With the waitress effectively shut up, she added, "I expect you to not go crazy ordering okay Henry? Oh and once you're done, your mom said she'd welcome your company. Ruby can you-"

"Yeah I'll take care of it, just go." Ruby shook her head, chuckling.

Once Emma left, Henry turned to Ruby. "We  _have_  to investigate who the Serenader could be."

Ruby gave him a conspiratorial smile. "You're so on. Got any leads yet?"

"Nothing too concrete. Pretty much anyone could be a suspect."

Ruby thought about it for a moment, eyes roaming up. "Well I'm not putting any of my money on group Vitriol, those guys would probably rather have their innards yanked out-"

"Ewww Ruby!" Henry's face screwed up into one of disgust.

She cringed as she remembered to tone things down for the eleven year-old. "Sorry Henry. But yeah, I don't think it's them. And it's probably gotta be someone young enough to pull the stunt from yesterday, but not too young. I don't think the Serenader's wanting to be jail bait for Regina."

Henry takes out a notebook from his backpack, flipping to an empty sheet. "I had a preliminary list outlined, but I hadn't really thought about age. What should we call this operation?"

"Operation Serenader?" Ruby offered.

"Nah, too obvious." Henry tapped his pencil to his chin, trying to think of a name. "How about Operation Owl?"

Ruby's eyebrows rose to her hairline. "How in the world did you settle with owl?"

He shrugged, "The Serenader seems to be most active at night, and owls are night creatures."

The waitress chuckled. "Can't argue with that logic."

He carefully wrote out the operation title at the top of the page, skipped a line, and then on the next one, wrote out 'suspects'. "Okay, so who do we have?"

"This is going to be a long list Henry."

"Process of elimination."

"Alright, how about you order something first, and then we can figure out a list? Otherwise both your moms will kill me, a) for not feeding you and b) for not taking you where you're supposed to go on time."

* * *

Only once Emma was inside the Station did she begin to wonder if there was a trap in place for her. The Wayward Gang wasn't exactly known for doing favours and working well with anyone, so she should've wondered if there was a trick.

But going inside the main office area and seeing the six, plus little Timmy, lounging around on the empty desks made Emma dismiss her earlier thoughts. If it was a trap, it was a complex one, especially because they always made sure to keep Timmy out of their illegal activities from what she had seen so far. She'd keep an eye out for them, ready for anything.

Seeing her come in, Maps stood up walked over to her, and gave her a curt nod. "Sheriff. Thank you for coming."

Emma nodded, seeing 7 pairs of eyes on her. "No problem. What made you change your mind?"

"Timmy did. We want a good life for him. What you said resonated with me."

She looked over at the little boy. He was playing with the youngest of the brothers, Nimble, or as he was known in Storybrooke, Nick. "Don't think this change of heart will get you out of your punishment."

Maps grinned, "Wouldn't dream of it, Sheriff."

"Shall we?" She gestured over to the interrogation rooms.

"Sure." He turned and nodded to his second in command, Locks, clearly relaying a silent message.

5 minutes later and they were inside the interrogation room, just the two of them facing one another.

Emma once more put her cellphone on the table, flipping to the timer app. More than 3 hours had gone by. "So after 2 months of giving us hell, plus 28 years of mundane delinquency, my sob story is what makes you think twice about your current defiance?"

Maps had enough decency to look bashfully at that. But he cleared his throat and his expression hardened. "We're being threatened, Sheriff."

Emma whipped her head up to look at him. "What?"

"We're being-"

"I heard you, but who in the world is threatening  _you guys_?" Emma couldn't hear or see a lie from what Maps was saying, but this whole case was getting stranger by the minute.

"We don't know."

"You...don't know." Emma raised a sceptical eyebrow at him.

"I know I met with someone about a month after the curse, and he threatened to take Timmy away from us if we didn't comply to his demands."

Emma furiously wrote down on her notepad. "He? You know it's a guy but not who?"

Maps nodded. "My gut tells me it was a guy. Deep voice in the back of my mind voices the threats. But I think he may have muddled my memory, it's a big blur when it comes to his face, but I remember talking to him. The other boys remember the same. He came by to our apartment and gave us an ultimatum. Do his dirty work or else we lose Timmy."

Her mind was reeling but she was going to try to work this through. "Lose him how?"

"He'd throw us over the border and make us leave Timmy behind. And the kid loves us and trusts us. He'd be devastated if he lost his family, and we'd hate to not be there to protect him."

Emma could understand the sentiments. She remembered that in the group homes the older kids were always fierce protectors of the younger ones, shielding them from the harsh realities of the real world and their generally miserable lives. "And why didn't you report this to me?"

"We were all reeling from the curse, plus Colin... sorry, Coins reminded us that we were criminals in the old world. Who would believe or care that we were being threatened now, and to break the law no less. Look how the Mayor was faring, and she was the baddest of them all. We were just hoping they were small tasks. I mean, we're not upstanding citizens you know that, and doing illegal stuff is kind of our thing, so we don't mind doing that, but not when we're being threatened to do it. We've always done things on our own, no one owned us."

She was nodding thoughtfully. "So if you hadn't been threatened, which of the last 3 crimes would you still have done."

"None," was the immediate response.

One Emma wasn't expecting, and she showed as much. "Really?"

"We don't steal from those who can't afford the losses, plus Mr. Nelson's a cool guy. And we don't kill, Sheriff, or threaten to kill or maim."

"And there wasn't any way to do your tasks trying to  _avoid_  a body count?"

"He...he gave us a test at first. Try to kill the Queen. When we said no, and we were prepared to do anything to save Timmy from being taken by that...that monster... he, he grabbed my heart. He grabbed it and squeezed it and it felt _horrible_. I felt like I was dying." Maps paused here, the memories overwhelming him to the point where he was clutching his chest as if he was still in pain.

Emma was flabbergasted. She'd heard the stories but...this was way out of her league. She went over to the side to grab some water from the cooler and put the paper cup on the table in front of the man.

Maps caught his breath and took a long sip. Emptying the cup, he flashed an easy smile to show thanks and relaunched into his story. "We tried to tell him we didn't kill, and my brothers were pleading to get him to let me go. So he said he was going to show us how it was done, how to stop being weak. With the heart in hand for the week, he waited for the perfect opportunity to strike, and we did. I felt like I was having an out of body experience, like I was seeing what I was doing, but not able to control it."

She recalled this part. She had assumed the boys had been scared at being discovered, but now she could connect the dots. "Then what happened?"

"Well the guy seemed satisfied we were able to do things, despite failing at killing the Queen. But he said that he hadn't actually expected to kill her then. He gave me back my heart, telling us that he'd have further instructions eventually and he'd deliver it to us eventually. Sure enough last week, 2 weeks after that incident, we got a letter with instructions slipped under our door. He told us to steal from Mr. Nelson, and then get Mr. Herman to give us access to his fish cannery warehouse to store the goods by any means necessary. The more threats the better, and we had to make them promise they wouldn't blab to you afterwards."

"And once again I stepped in. What happened when you didn't deliver?"

He shrugged. "We have until Thursday to get it all in."

"Otherwise he does good on his threat?"

The meek nod was very different than the sort of attitude she'd come to expect from the Gang. "But you guys wanted to risk all of that to tell me?"

"Yeah, like you said, a fresh start, a second chance. We don't know what else to do."

To be entirely honest, Emma was still a bit reluctant to help them, her paranoia making her look at everything Maps was saying with the stink eye. Her stabbed stomach, which had no scar left thanks to Regina's healing, clutched at remembering how violent the men had gotten.

Maps had been watching Emma while she stewed with all the information he had just said. Then he understood why the silence. "You don't believe me."

Emma sighed, putting down her notepad and stopping the timer. She waited for a couple of seconds more before looking up at the man siting across from her. "I'm not sure what to believe Maps. You're the fourth person I've talked to  _today_ who seems to be either threatened or reluctant to come forth with problems because of something or other. Suffice it to say that I'm kind of feeling like I'm failing at my job as a cop. Plus forgive me for not immediately trusting you, my gut is still mad with your dagger."

Maps gave a shy smile. "I am sorry Sheriff, but you understand what we were thinking right? We were ready to sacrifice anything for Timmy."

Emma hummed. She knew all too well. "Yeah, it's not easy to come forth when you think no one will believe you."

"We're more for petty thievery and home disturbances. If there are people with an abundance of wealth, they won't miss some things here or there y'know? We'd never try to attack these people by our own accord, not even you, who got caught up in the middle."

"Job hazards, no harm done." Emma gave an easy smile with a shrug."Okay so here's what I propose. I'll help you keep up the charade with your mysterious extortioner,  _if_  you promise me that you'll be letting me know every time he makes contact and what the plan is, until I manage to catch him, deal?"

Maps nodded. "Yeah. But  _please_  don't tell anyone. If he finds out about this, he might get desperate."

Emma knew Maps was thinking about how to desperation would translate to Timmy's well-being. Feeling like the conversation was done, she stood up."Of course. Now I'll go talk to Sean to get him to free up the cannery and then afterwards we can head out to get a look at the things from wherever you hid it and see how we can transport it to the warehouse."

"Sounds good." Maps stood up with Emma, and walked back outside to the main office area with her. "We hid it all near the Toll Bridge."

* * *

Half an hour later and Emma was heading out to the Toll Bridge. She obviously wasn't going to start loading all of Mr. Nelson's things right now, where anyone out and about the town enjoying the warm spring evening would see the Sheriff and the head delinquent that had tried to gut her last week try to take stolen woodworking supplies to the cannery warehouses.

No, right now she wanted to test Maps' word. Emma could hardly believe the guy was going to risk some big plan just to trick her, right?

Soon enough they had left the cruiser and were walking down the dirt path towards the Toll Bridge area.

"So what did you guys do during the curse?" Emma wanted to get to know more about them, maybe it'll help to see if Maps really was telling the truth.

"Tech repairs. It broke down and we fixed it. Obviously as the years went by the blocky computers became fancy tablets, but we kept a good business going. We also kept ourselves entertained during the curse by pranking people, and messing around with their belongings too. Our biggest prank was the blue paint prank. Sheriff Graham tore us a new one for that."

Soon enough they were at the bridge. There, a little ways off, were the missing trunks and supplies. Emma approached the haul and gave it a once-over. "Any idea what your employer had in mind for all of this?"

Maps shrugged. "Not particularly. This was the easy job, I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth and start asking questions. It beat having to do that shit to the Hermans."

"I'm sure." Emma examined the haul and noticed something shiny. Bending down she picked it up. It was a phone, dirtied from lying around on the forest floor. "Did any of your guys lose their phone?"

"Nope, why?"

Emma tried checking the smart phone. It was dead. "'Cause I found one. Battery's dead, but it was just lying here."

He held out his hand and Emma gave it to him. He turned it in his hands, trying to see if some clue would present itself. At not seeing anything, he just handed it back to her with a frown. "Didn't think this was a popular tourist attraction."

"Me neither. Which begs the question of who was here and why. What do you think...Maps?"

But Maps had stopped paying attention, instead focusing on a point a little ways behind her, staying stock still. Emma noticed that all colour had drained from the tan man's face. "Maps?"

"Bear," was the squeaky reply.

With a pang Emma slowly turned around to indeed see a brown bear baring its teeth at them. Her stomach dropped as she realized what happened.

"Bobby."

* * *

"Come on mom! You can even help us find the Serenader!" Henry was all but begging to his mom, who was sitting beside him driving them home.

"Henry no matter how much you want to find the Serenader, I will not let you use the town's resources to help your crazy investigation in order to find him. He could be dangerous."

But Henry wouldn't relent. "Please mom! It's not like anyone has to know! It's just for fun. Plus the census is like 2 years old!"

Regina spared a glance at her son, who was doing his puppy-dog eyes routine. She sighed in resignation. She could never escape that trick. "Fine, one look tomorrow and that's it, okay?"

"Yes!"

The rest of the ride included Henry's theories on the Serenader. He didn't have anything concrete, but he would find something. "Besides, it'll take a load off of ma's plate while she's dealing with the Bobby thing."

When they arrived at the apartment, Regina was ready to wind down. She'd take a nice bath, check over Henry's homework where Emma would get stumped, and then prepare a nice meal for her family. Wait... family? She must be more exhausted than she thought.

"Whoa mom this is so cool!"

Regina snapped her head up to look at Henry, who was holding a small dark purple tube. He pressed a button and it turned on. "Cool it's a lightsaber!"

It was not actually a lightsaber, but for the young boy, it was just like it. "There's something written on the tube. 'Check the card.' What card? And it's signed with a squiggly line and an S?"

Regina made her way to her son, reaching for the object in his hand. "May I see it?"

"Sure." While Regina inspected it, a sly smile grew on his face. "It's from the Serenader isn't it? Did he give you a card recently?"

She nodded and went back to where she had rested her purse. "Yes, a postcard."

After a few seconds of rummaging, she finally took out the card. With the tube held up to the card, she gasped.

"Let me see!"

She held the objects lower so he could see better. The front of the card, which was just a night sky to the naked eye, had lines connecting some of the multitude of stars under the light. "They're letters!"

Regina gaped and nodded. Indeed they were.

_**** _

_**I think I saw you** _

The 'you' was the biggest part, centred at the bottom of the sky, and it brought out a flurry of butterflies to roam through her stomach. She knew she shouldn't be feeling this way towards someone who could potentially be very dangerous. If she had her priorities sorted out she'd be asking how it was that the Serenader had managed to get into their house twice now, and why she hadn't told Emma to change the locks.

Before they could say another word, the house phone began to ring. Regina put down the tube of light and the card, making her way to the source of the noise.

"Hello?"

"Regina." It was Whale. Though she ignored the icy tone he was speaking in with his next question. "Is Henry there?"

"Yes he is. Why?" Regina couldn't help but narrow her eyes at the voice on the other side of the line. The boy in question was staring at her curiously, head tilted slightly to the side.

"It's about Emma..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, pottage is Archaic for porridge, who knew?
> 
> Okay but let's talk cliffhangers! I'm sure you guys don't want to talk archaic english, so moving on!
> 
> I'm going to be evil and have to leave you guys wondering what happened not only until I update, but since next chapter will be a flashback, you'll have to wait even longer! I was actually going to make the chapter go a bit further, but the length was driving me insane. As you can tell, I'm not a fan of super long chapters, and 10k+ [nearly 14k] is stretching it.
> 
> I had thought about splitting this chapter in two, but then I just wanted to get this small arc to a close so we can start on the mysterious extortioner. Plus I read this chapter so many times I'm not even sure if it makes sense anymore, I hope it does though!
> 
> So what do you think about Maps and the Wayward Gang? Are they cool, or kinda bland? Do you think they're tricking Emma or genuinely asking for help? I want to know your thoughts.


	8. Maternal Rights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!
> 
> As promised this will be the flashbacks chapter! This is just to iron out some scenes I might have hinted at previously that I think do deserve to be shown rather than told. But don't think it's a filler chapter! For the Serenader will make their appearance, oooh~
> 
> Also just a note, like I said at the beginning of the fic, not everything that happens here is as it happened in the show. So if there's something that makes you go "that's not how it happened in the show!" then chances are, it's because I'm making it an alteration.
> 
> So enjoy! And as always, I would love to know what you think!

**The day the curse broke:**

Emma could only stare as she saw that her reality had been shattered. What she had assumed to be the imaginative ramblings of her son were actually real. Everything was real. It was definitely a sobering moment for her.

"You broke the curse!" Henry grinned up at her, while Emma turned to look at the woman beside her.

Regina was shocked and seemed frozen in place. She looked pale and distraught, though Emma supposed she had every right to feel like that. Her curse, that had been intact for over 28 years, had just been broken, and now her past was coming to catch up with her.

Judging by the handful of people behind them - Dr. Whale, Mother Superior and a shift nurse - and their expressions, Regina was not going to get off easy from this.

"Perhaps, your Majesty, it's best you left." Mother Superior's saccharine voice grated at Emma's ears.

Regina didn't respond to the woman, but she was kickstarted into moving again. She didn't get too close to Henry, thinking he'd be afraid of her. But she caught his eye, and said, "Henry, I hope you know that I truly love you, and would _never_  do anything to hurt you."

With a small smile, she stood back, and meagerly tried to make eye-contact with Emma. Emma, the woman that had found out she was the Evil Queen but still worked with her to find a way to break the curse and save their son. But Regina doubted that Emma really trusted her. Their temporary partnership was probably because the blonde was backed into a corner, and had known that it was either team up with Regina, or lose Henry.

But now Regina was the one that would lose Henry, for who would allow the Evil Queen near their child? Once Emma returned the eye-contact, Regina gave a brisk nod, and walked away, heading to her house, ready to barricade herself in it and drink away her sorrows like nobody's business.

* * *

**Later that day:**

Dr. Whale had released Henry, seeing that his vitals were normal, only telling him to take it easy as magical after-effects of the sleeping curse might be different on this world, and they had no way of knowing what could happen.

Now, as Emma was driving with Henry in tow, magical after-effects were the last thing on her mind. She was headed to Mary Margaret's apartment. Her home for the past few months.

But now it was the home with her parents.  _That_  was going to take some getting used to. Plus she wanted to talk to Henry, he looked way too pensive for his own good, and heaven knows what he must be going through, seeing the confirmation that his theory was correct combined with the revelation that Regina was the Evil Queen.

Emma parked her bug, and took a deep breath. She turned and saw that Henry was looking at her.

"You doing okay, kid?"

"I guess...it's great that we broke the curse, but at the same time I feel bad for mom...I hope she doesn't hate me for it." Henry mumbled the last part, looking down as he swung his feet around slowly.

"Hey Henry, look at me." Emma waited until Henry did so to continue, putting a hand on his shoulder soothingly. "Your mom doesn't hate you. You heard her earlier, she loves you. And I don't doubt that for a second. Hell she was prepared to do anything, even helped me to break her own curse so we could save you. We broke the curse because she  _wanted_  it. For  _you_."

Henry gave a small smile, but then grew somber again. "But now everyone will hate her. What if someone tries to hurt her?"

Emma sighed. She had no doubt people would try. "Look Henry, no matter what happens, I will protect your mom against  _anyone_  that tries to hurt her, I promise."

"Really?" Henry's vibrant grin made Emma break out into a smile as well.

"Yes really." Emma thought about leaving it at that, but she decided to explain herself a bit more. "Look, I might not know a lot about curses and fairytales, but I know a lot about trust, and knowing when to give people the benefit of the doubt. And your mom might have done a lot of things back in their land, but here she is Regina, she raised you better than I ever would've been able to. She really was your best chance, and I wouldn't trade that for the world. So hell yeah I'm going to defend her. It's the least I can do in return for all she's done for you."

Henry flung himself against Emma, hugging her tightly. Emma certainly hadn't intended to have a heart-to-heart with Henry in her car, but she supposed that there was no time like the present.

After a few minutes of hugging, Henry broke away from the hug and asked, "Can I go see her tomorrow?"

"Who, Regina?"

Henry nodded, his messy bangs covering his eyes at every down bob.

"Yeah sure. But I'm going to ask her first. She seems to be needing space, and I don't think she'd appreciate surprises coming out the left field right now. That sound good?"

Henry nodded once more before going back to hugging Emma.

"Now come on, I get the feeling David and Mary Margaret are going to want to talk."

Both got out of the car and made their way towards Mary Margaret's apartment. As Emma unlocked the door, she was faced with one heck of a party. It felt like half the town was there; people who she had seen before only in passing seemed to have found themselves with their rediscovered identities.

"Emma!" She saw Ruby heading her way before she was engulfed in a hug.

With Ruby's exclamation, the party seemed to have paused. Everyone turned to look at them. The brunette broke away and stepped back with a smile, making way for the two people she was anxious about seeing.

"Emma..." Mary Margaret was crying as she hugged Emma tightly, while David cocooned both of them, one hand reaching to cup the back of Emma's head.

The blonde stayed stock still, hands by her side as she tried to figure out how to react. These people were her parents. It had been her dream to find them, so why wasn't she happy?

After what felt like eons, they broke apart. Both adults were looking at Emma with something akin to fascination and adoration, which baffled the blonde.

"You found us." Mary Margaret was really getting it on with the waterworks.

Emma could only manage a half smile. Right now she was reeling from so many revelations, her parents being one of them, that she just wanted to pause everything to sort out her thoughts.

While they had been hugging, the party had gone back into full swing, Ruby had dragged Henry for some food while she left the trio to have their moment, so at least they weren't being watched like a fascinating display at a zoo. She had to be thankful for the little things.

"So, we have a lot to talk about..." David started with a smile.

Emma thought quick on her feet. Getting out of things was her specialty, but it took a few seconds for her brain to go back to working. "Yeah, but can we rain-check on it 'till tomorrow? Today's been a crazy day for me, I just want to wind down."

Mary Margaret nodded. "Sure honey. And sorry about the party...after the curse broke, we just started gathering and next thing you know, we're having a party here!"

"It's okay, I'm sure you guys have a lot to catch up on." It seemed Emma's polite smile was working like a charm today, because Mary Margaret accepted it without question.

Emma left the couple and went to go talk to Henry, who was sitting with Ruby; the latter was telling him some stories from the Enchanted Forest by the sound of it, but she was too tired to focus on it.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt" Emma gently put her hand on Ruby's shoulder before continuing, "but I'm feeling kinda tired, so I'm gonna head to my room. If you need anything Henry, or want to head to bed, I'm sure Mary Margaret or David will understand and disperse the party. If not you can crash in my room or whatever, okay?"

"Yeah! Night ma," Henry smiled at her, pausing in mid chew.

Ruby gave her a sympathetic smile, and Emma barely felt awake to return it. It seemed incredible that from the doorway to the kitchen, her energy had been shot. Her legs felt like jelly and her arms like lead.

She'd never felt like this before, though granted, it wasn't every day her son had been at Death's doorstep due to a sleeping curse that he accidentally consumed, which led her to teaming up with the ex-Evil Queen that concocted said curse, and the overall curse that had surrounded this sleepy town for nearly 3 decades, battling a dragon as well as being tricked by Rumpelstiltskin.

Summarizing it all made Emma want to laugh at the absurdity. If she woke up tomorrow and none of this was real, she was going to commit herself to an asylum first thing.

* * *

**The next day:**

As Emma made her way over to Regina's house, she hoped the brunette was alright. Mary Margaret and David had told her that after she passed out, a dark purple cloud had surrounded Storybrooke. It apparently did no immediate damage to them, but the colour cloud was Regina's signature, and everyone worried that she was up to her old tricks.

Emma had merely given noncommittal grunts throughout the one-sided explanation. She was sure the last thing that Regina wanted was for Henry to see her as the Evil Queen, and doing something like this would be exactly what Regina would avoid doing.

Turning onto Mifflin St. Emma's heart plummeted as she heard raucous jeering and yelling coming from a house she knew very well. Breaking into a sprint, Emma made her way to the gate in no time, and pushed herself past the throng of people to stand at Regina's porch, facing the mass

The owner of the house was nowhere to be seen, for which Emma was thankful. These people had a wild look in their eyes.

"Everyone! Shut up!" The crowd quieted at Emma's request, which made the Sheriff just a little bit calmer. Perhaps she could reason with them. "I know you're all angry, but right now you're trespassing on private property! You're no longer in the Enchanted Forest, and you have to learn that the way things are done here is different. So go back to your homes, enjoy having your memories back, have a party! But leave Regina  **alone**!"

"But she's responsible for all of this!"

"She deserves to die!"

"Why the hell are you protecting her?!"

The protesters kept asking questions, overwhelming Emma. Right now she could really use backup.

" **Enough!** " The door had opened, and the crowd collectively took a few steps back and fell silent. Their bravado had weakened as Regina Mills stepped out of her house, looking menacing as hell with a glare that seemed like it could pulverize any unfortunate soul caught in the crossfire.

Emma had enough sense to step a bit to the side, but still close to the brunette.

"How dare you come into my property? As Sheriff Swan so rightly said, the laws of this land are different, and if you all don't leave my property in the next 10 seconds, I'll get the Sheriff to arrest every last one of you, I don't care if I have to jinx half of you into rats to do it. Am I clear?"

The blonde could clearly see why people feared her, this was worse than when Regina was trying to run her out of town, and  _that_  had seemed like a formidable and frightening version of Regina. This one was that on steroids, and Emma hoped she'd never have this Regina angry at her like that.

To sell her act, Regina managed to light a fireball in her hand. It seemed that their need for self-preservation outmatched their anger, for the entire mob had run off before Regina decided to light their cowardly asses on fire.

As Regina quenched the fire in her hand, she glanced back to see a wide-eyed Sheriff staring at where the ball of fire was just a few seconds ago. She was sure no one had called the Sheriff to let her know what was happening in her front porch, so Emma probably had business around the neighbourhood and just happened upon the scene. But she wasn't going to wait for the blonde to explain herself.

The brunette cleared her throat, getting Emma to break out of her reverie. "Thank you for your services Sheriff. You may leave now."

As the other woman walked past her and was about to close the door, Emma jumped into action. "Wait! I wanted to talk to you..."

Regina sighed. Of course she did. Probably was going to lecture her on civil obedience, and tell her she no longer had any right to Henry. "What is it Ms. Swan?"

"Can I come in?"

The calm and gentle tone that Emma used surprised Regina. She was expecting the blonde to get right into it and threaten her. This almost seemed like a social call more than anything, so Regina gave in and opened the door wider to let the other woman in.

"So," Emma started once the door had been locked and both women had gone up the small flight of stairs. "I'm guessing that whole thing with the jinxing and the fire...ball thingy were just an act, right?"

"And what if it wasn't?" Regina asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Come off it, Regina. I was there when you talked to Henry. I know you wouldn't do this on purpose. I know you're trying to change for him." When Regina said nothing, Emma inched just a little bit closer, eyes pleading while the brunette's own were hard set. "Please don't feel like you have to put up this front with me, I'm on your side."

Regina did not sign up for this. It honestly felt like Emma was being genuinely caring, but Regina knew otherwise, and she refused to fall for this type of deception again. But she supposed that at best, Emma had probably been put up to this by Henry, for some inexplicable reason. "Did you come here for anything specific, Ms. Swan? Or just to try and decipher my actions? I assure you that if I need psychotherapy, I'll contact Dr. Hopper."

Emma stuffed her hands in her jean's pockets, and ever so subtly bit her lip. "Henry wants to see you."

Out of everything the blonde could've said, this was the most unexpected one. "What?"

"He asked me yesterday and obviously I said yes, but I still want to make sure you're okay with it-"

"You'd let him see me?" Regina didn't even let Emma finish her sentence, and just launched right into her question. She was clearly hearing things.

"Of course." Emma gave her a look as if she was wondering if Regina had lost her mind. "Regina you're his mother, I have no right in denying you that, neither would I want to."

"But I'm the Evil Queen-"

"Regina, do you want to keep making excuses, or see Henry? I'm not backing down from this. Henry wants to and it's your right. I'm just the messenger passing along the information so that he doesn't just show up after school at your doorstep and you look confused."

The brunette was currently speechless. Her features however, were schooled, so it merely seemed like she was pondering. Despite her brain short circuiting, she figured she could at least be courteous. "Thank you, Ms. Swan."

Emma smiled. "No need to thank. But I do think Henry will appreciate it. And if you want, tomorrow or something we can iron out that schedule for who has him when and all that jazz-"

"Actually, Ms. Swan, I think it's best if Henry stays with you for now."

"Wait, what?" Emma was puzzled. She and Regina had fought tooth and nail over Henry, before deciding a few days ago, to put aside their differences and agree that neither was going away, and to figure out a schedule.

"As you can see, the public aren't exactly my biggest fans right now. So it might be best to keep Henry with you so he is safer. Not to mention that I can already imagine the hoards of people who will believe I am holding Henry here against his will. So yes, for the time being Ms. Swan, I want you to have him."

"Well we can at least coordinate some sort of schedule, like during the weekends or something. Just because the town hates you doesn't mean you shouldn't get to see Henry."

"Very well."

* * *

**Later that day:**

Seeing her son now made her beam. He was healthy and smiling, contrasting yesterday's seeming so small and defenseless on that hospital bed, near death because of her sleeping curse. But it seems that he wasn't holding it against her as he collided against her, giving her a big hug.

"I'm glad you're okay mom."

Regina was surprised, and it showed as he looked at her once they broke from the hug. "Henry, you were the one that was hurt, I should be saying that to  _you_."

"I knew I was going to be fine, someone was going to save me. But Ma told me what happened earlier." Before Regina could get it in her mind to lecture Emma about toning things down for a 10-year old, he added, "She didn't say much, just that people weren't happy with you and were outside our house. Is that why the front is all spattered with tomatoes and veggies and stinking of rotten egg?"

Regina sighed but nodded. The denizens of Storybrooke had made it their mission to decorate her house with rotten vegetables and fruits of varying colours, as well as egging her house. She was wondering if they were going to begin the TP attacks. "Yes, but I'm sure that's not why you wanted to talk. Do you want something to drink?"

"Can I have some juice?"

"Of course." They walked over to the kitchen, Henry sitting on the island while Regina poured Henry some orange juice for him. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"The curse, you, the book, everything really."

This was clearly not going to be an easy subject to tackle. Regina sat down on the stool beside Henry, internally smiling when he didn't back off. "It's a lot to cover..."

"I know, but I want to hear your side of the story. The book didn't really go into a lot of detail about it."

Regina smiled. "Yes well, the book is a bit one sided. I'm the villain, so my story was never really important."

"But you're not the villain! You helped break the curse, and you're my mom. You have and are changing."

Regina engulfed her son in a hug. This is what mattered. If her son believed she was trying to be good, the rest could just be ignored. "So you're not mad at me? Or...afraid of me?"

Henry broke away from the hug and shook his head. She really needed to cut his hair, it was getting long. "I'd never be afraid of you. But I wish you had told me about the curse being real, then maybe things would've gone differently..."

Regina had enough sense to look guilty, scrunching up her face and pouting as she tried to figure out how to apologize for that.

"But I guess I can understand why you wouldn't tell me. Being an Evil Queen isn't exactly something easy to handle."

Regina managed a weak smile. "Well, I promise that from now on I will keep nothing from you. Of course some things aren't apt for a 10-year old, so don't think this gives you unlimited access. But I want you to be able to trust me."

Henry just grinned before saying, "I already trust you, mom."

They were silent for a few moments before Henry asked, "So, can you do magic?"

"In a way. This world isn't like the Enchanted Forest...magic is different here, so it's taking some getting used to. I can barely create anything unless I use a lot of power. But I'm sure I'll get used to it soon."

* * *

**2 days later:**

As Emma entered the apartment, she saw Mary Margaret and David looking at her strangely.

"Is everything okay?"

"We were going to ask you that."

"Why?"

It felt like a game of broken telephone, both parties confused as they tried to make sense of the situation. David answered her query saying, "Well we thought Henry was going to be with you."

"Oh." Emma walked over to the kitchen and shook her head with a smile. She had begun to fear they were going to attack with the whole 'we're your parents' talk she had thankfully managed to avoid for now. "It's Saturday, so he's staying over at Regina's tonight."

"Regina? But why Emma?" Mary Margaret looked comically shocked, and if it hadn't been such a serious topic, Emma would've burst out laughing.

"Is she threatening you to see him?" David meanwhile looked ready to break out his sword and go to Regina's house right then and there.

"Whoa guys, relax. Regina has every right to Henry, she's his mom-"

" _You're_  his mother though."

"According to a bunch of _very_  legal documents scattered throughout the country, I'm not. I gave up the rights to Henry a long time ago, and Regina legally adopted him."

"But Henry's been staying here!" Mary Margaret continued to insist. David just kept on looking angry, arms crossed in front of him.

"Because we think that right now, Henry needs to stay away from Regina for his own safety. All your _pals_  around town are ready to burn Regina at the stake and publicly lynch her, but Henry shouldn't have to be caught in the crossfire." She tried to hint to the other two adults that they should perhaps take action regarding their friends, but they didn't catch on.

"But today is different because?"

"Because Regina still deserves to have some time with Henry. Plus it's his birthday in less than 2 weeks, and she wants to help plan the party with him."

"His birthday is coming up?" All of a sudden Mary Margaret's expression brightened.

"Yeah. Hard to believe he's going to be 11 soon enough." Emma was beginning to claim victory in getting out of dangerous waters, but David turned the boat right back to head into the thick of it.

"Whoa, hang on let's not get distracted. Emma you're letting Henry around a very dangerous woman."

"Regina would never hurt him."

"Emma are you forgetting how, a few days ago, Henry was in the hospital due to the sleeping curse  _she_  concocted?"

"That was an accident! Henry wasn't the intended recipient of the pastry, it was Mary Margaret!"

Mary Margaret, for her part, kept quiet as her husband and daughter continued to argue. She hadn't thought of anything when the mayor had come by with the pastry, thinking it as a peace-offering after all those years with that unexplained animosity that Regina always threw at her. But David was right. Regina couldn't be trusted, especially if only a few days ago she had been ready to poison her once again.

"Are you even listening to yourself right now? You're defending the woman who tried to poison your mother - probably with the intent to kill, and ended up poisoning Henry!"

"You're looking at this with the mentality that Regina is still the Evil Queen! While Henry was in the hospital, and I confronted her about it, she admitted to everything, and I saw it in her eyes. There was no malice there, she just wanted Henry back. She knew she had done something wrong. And now she's trying to show that she's changed. Why can't you guys give her a chance?"

"Because we've already given her so many chances." Mary Margaret piped up, meeting her daughter's confused expression. "And she practically spat those chances back in our face. She doesn't want to change Emma. Believe me when I said that I tried to, for so many years. I was the first person to try and get her to change for the longest time."

"Maybe you didn't try hard enough."

David could hardly believe what he was hearing. "Emma, you're trying to have an opinion of something you barely know anything about. Trust us on this."

"No, I think your opinions on the Evil Queen is clouding your judgment and won't allow you to see how much Regina has tried and is trying to change. From what I read in the book, the woman who adopted and raised Henry is nothing like the Evil Queen you guys know. I met and know Regina Mills, a woman who has single-handedly raised Henry into an awesome kid, and yeah she has made some debatable decisions when trying to run me out of town, but I think she was just scared I was going to take away the only thing that made her happy. As for the pastry...I think it was all for Kathryn's sake. But anyway, last week we had actually reached some kind of agreement with Henry."

"Emma, she was trying to trick you! You need to arrest her and-"

"Whoa what?" Emma rounded off on her roommate, wide eyes trying to decipher if this was some kind of joke. "Arrest? When the heck did we start talking about arresting Regina?"

"It's the sensible thing to do!"

"Look, until Regina commits an actual crime, I won't be arresting her, simple as that."

"Did she bewitch you? Is that it? Is she offering you something?"

Emma was very ready to lose her patience with her supposed parents. These couldn't really be the ever-kind Snow White and Prince Charming, right? If they were then boy did Disney need to brush up on some facts. Instead of responding, she turned around and started headed out the door.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"Out, to search for an apartment."

The couple looked to one another, as if hoping the other had a solution to the baffling response their daughter had just said. "An apartment? Honey, you live  _here_."

"I decided I need a change in scenery, and this house is not big enough for 3 adults and part-time a growing child. Plus if Regina and I are going to be sharing Henry, she's going to be showing up pretty frequently, and I'd rather avoid that fiasco every week or whatever."

With that, Emma left to go search for an apartment. From the tone of Emma's response, it was clear her decision had nothing to do with scenery or room capacity, and everything with Regina.

"David, what are we going to do?"

* * *

**1 week and a half later:**

Regina was beginning to rethink her belief that the citizens of Storybrooke would have calmed down by now with their vendetta against her. Last week had been hell. A watermelon thrown at her while driving, hitting the windshield where Henry was riding beside her, and then on Friday her car windows had been smashed, along with the litany of eggs and rotten produce littering the front of her house.

The Sheriff had tried to put up signs to warn everyone against doing said activities, which would earn them a hefty fine, but she couldn't very well park herself outside Regina's house the entire time, so all the haters strategized to attack when they wouldn't get caught. But she was hoping they would slip up, and soon.

Now, as her office doors slammed open, she prayed for patience. The un-Charmings were here.

"May I help you with something?" Regina no longer had a secretary, as Ms. Nesbitt had raised quite a storm at finding out who her employer really was. But she didn't quite mind having lost her secretary, everyone usually left her alone so she had no real need for one; unless it was a day like today and her two least-favourite people showed up.

"Yeah, you can. We want to go back." David said, arms crossing in front of his chest. He had his sword strapped to his waist, and Regina didn't miss Mary Margaret holding a bow, with a quiver filled with arrows on her back.

"You'll need to be more specific, back where?" She knew what he was talking about, but it was best to make them work for it.

Mary Margaret responded, "The Enchanted Forest, Regina. You took us away from there, now we want to go back."

"Well then, I'll be the one to break it to you: our old land is gone."

"What?"

"That's not possible."

"Oh yes, it very much is. The Dark Curse decimated the land. Even if it did still exist, it would be a barren wasteland." Regina hoped that for once in their lives, they would understand her without having to explain it so their small brains could comprehend it.

"Better than here. How do we go back, witch." David had uncrossed his arms by now, one hand resting on the hilt of his sword, ready to draw it.

"Really Charming, you're not doing yourself any favours right now. But I was not lying when I said there was no way to go back. Go ask Rumpelstiltskin if you don't believe me. He's the one who concocted the curse in the first place. Besides, I'd have thought you'd welcome the advancements of the 21st century, not to mention being reunited with your daughter."

"Not much of a win when you turn her against us."

Now Regina was baffled. "Against you? What in the world are you babbling about?"

"You know very well Regina. You've got Emma defending you so that you can have Henry."

Regina raised an eyebrow. "I honestly have no idea what you're talking about, but if you must know, I only get Henry once or twice a week, and only for a few hours, for his safety, as I'm sure Ms. Swan has told you."

"Yeah, a real believable cover, Regina."

"Why in the world would I lie?"

"You don't honestly expect me to answer that with an answer you'll like, right?"

By now David had backed off, staying silent while the two long-time nemeses verbally duked it out.

"If you are done asking pointless questions, I'd rather get back to work."

The two royals knew that there wasn't much more that they could say right now, not without incurring Emma's anger, who seemed to be beginning to take her role as Regina's protector very seriously after the attacks last week. They had barely talked to her ever since she moved out, at most getting a detached conversation every few days about the weather and interesting things that happened in Storybrooke.

The subject on them being her parents, or even Regina and Henry, were understood to be out of bounds for now, but they hoped they would be able to tackle it sometime soon and reach a happy medium, with Emma seeing the danger that Regina posed.

* * *

**The next day:**

When the doors to her office opened, Regina was prepared for round 2 with the Charmings. Seeing Ruby wasn't exactly much better.

"Did the Charmings decide to send you out to force me to reveal the truth on the Enchanted Forest?" Regina asked in a bored tone.

Ruby paused for a second, confused. "Uh...no?"

"Oh." Regina was surprised to say the least. "Then pray tell, to what do I owe this pleasure to?"

"I wanted to thank you. I know that my friendship to Snow meant that in the Enchanted Forest we were on opposing sides, but I for one am thankful to have been brought here." Ruby gave a genuine smile, trying to convey her thanks.

"You are one of the few, Ms. Lucas."

"So I've heard. But 21st century tech totally beats the dreary Middle Ages we lived in." Ruby shuddered before adding, "Plus I feel like I can control my wolf much easier here. So thanks."

In a rare moment, Regina smiled. Perhaps all wasn't lost. "You're welcome, Ms. Lucas."

* * *

**The next day:**

"Happy birthday kid!"

Henry just groaned and put the pillow over his head, "G'way ma. I'm not gonna go t'school"

"Oh come on Henry, don't think your birthday means you'll get out of school. You're going, even if I need to drop you off in your jammies. So up and at'em."

"Fine," the birthday boy groaned.

"Come on, I'll even make you pancakes."

"Pancakes?!" Emma made a mental note to use pancakes more frequently to jump-start Henry in the mornings. Probably not the best parenting technique, but she was still learning.

"Yep, now come on and get ready."

* * *

**A couple of hours later:**

"'Morning Regina."

Regina wasn't sure when she had begun feeling relieved each time she heard the blonde's voice, but it was quickly becoming a source of comfort. Probably because Emma was practically the equivalent of a bug spray against the town, although Regina had yet to discover why the blonde was on her side.

"Good morning Ms. Swan. How is Henry?"

"Well it was morning, so you can imagine he was impossible to wake up."

Regina chuckled. "Oh yes I know all too well. Not even the prospect of his birthday was enough to rouse him?"

"Not exactly. But don't worry, I used some creative thinking and got him to wake up."

"How?" After so many years, she knew how hard such a feat was. If the blonde managed it, it was certainly remarkable.

Emma winked. "Oh y'know, I have my methods."

"Oh really? Is it now a creative secret?" Regina smirked as she raised an eyebrow.

"Yep." Emma declared proudly. "But anyway, you're coming to the party, right?"

"...I'm not sure." Regina couldn't even look Emma in the eye as she responded.

"Oh come on Regina, you have to! Henry's been looking forward to this for weeks! Plus you helped plan 90% of it!"

"Yes but that was before the flurry of threats headed my way this past week tripled!"

"Regina, I'll be right there. No one would be stupid enough to try anything with me there. Plus this is for Henry, and everyone loves him."

"I wouldn't put it past the Charmings to try anything again." Regina muttered, hoping Emma wouldn't hear it.

But Emma did hear it, and looked at her curiously. "Again? Regina, what did they do?"

Regina waved it off. "Nothing major, they're just insisting that I'm lying about the Enchanted Forest having been destroyed with the curse, thinking I am keeping everyone here as a final act of redemption, because as you can imagine, 21st century upgrades are torture considering all the good things the Middle Ages had."

Emma snorted. "Oh yeah, between the plague and indoor plumbing, I can see the indecisiveness. How ever will they live now?"

The two began chuckling at each other's quips.

"But seriously, you have to come Regina. Please?"

"Very well Ms. Swan. I'll see you tonight."

* * *

**Later that night:**

"What is she doing here?" Leroy grumbled, turning to her as he jerked a thumb to where Regina was talking amicably to Henry, smiling as he told her some ridiculous story from school.

"I invited her. Plus she planned the party and deserves to be here." Emma decided she wouldn't even tackle the whole 'she's also Henry's mom' because she was sure Leroy was in 'Emma is Henry's only mom' camp.

"She did? Then how the hell do you know she didn't poison everything?"

"Because, Mr. Dweorg," Emma saw Leroy pale as Regina came to stand behind him. "If I had wanted to do everyone off, I wouldn't use Henry's birthday party as the place to do so. Besides, I'm more of an apple enthusiast when it comes to carriers for poisons, so do avoid the strudel if you want to be extra careful."

Emma was grinning at Regina, who gave her a subtle wink before once more making her face impassive and cool for Leroy.

Leroy grumbled and walked off, leaving the two mothers alone.

Regina shook her head with a smirk as she sat down. "And the night's just getting started. I wonder if any poor souls will try the strudel."

"Maybe you should make it a contest. Winner gets to hang out with you."

"Ms. Swan, that will just guarantee that all the strudels will end up in the garbage before the party is over."

"Nah, don't worry, I'll eat leftovers."

Regina raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Not afraid of me poisoning you?"

"Nope." Emma had said it with such conviction and without missing a beat that it had Regina do a double take.

But before she could respond, Regina was suddenly splattered with a tomato.

The room was silent for a beat, and then:

"Yeah! Down with the Evil Queen! No one wants you here!" Leroy and the other dwarfs were all jeering.

Emma was practically growling as she got up from her seat, ready to tear Leroy a new one, until a hand latched onto her arm.

"Emma wait, it's not worth it." Regina, with tomato dripping down her face, was trying to prevent her from lashing out.

"But Regina, if we don't stop them, they'll keep doing it-"

"And if you  _try_ , they'll just keep going despite your efforts. They don't care. Plus this party is for Henry, the last thing we want is to turn it into a row and ruin this day for him."

Emma sighed but relented, instead going to grab a nearby napkin.

Regina tried to mask her surprise as Emma began swiping her face with gentle caresses, using the napkin to wipe away the seeds and juicy chunks. Despite trying to catch everything, the suit jacket was probably ruined, or at least would need some serious dry-cleaning. Regina felt like she was doing a good job of remaining composed until a shrill yell broke through the living room of Emma's apartment.

"Are you kidding me right now?! Are you idiots **that** dense?!" Regina tore her gaze from the blonde in front of her and saw the most flabbergasting sight.

Kathryn had taken it upon herself to tear the dwarfs a new one. "Is that how much respect you have? This is a party for Henry, and you decide to aggravate Regina just for a few laughs?"

The dwarfs just shrugged, and Leroy said, "Sure. No one cares anyway, might as well have some fun."

"Oh really? Then why don't you go tell that to Henry who just ran off to his room that..."

Neither woman continued listening as they looked to each other with trepidation. They quickly got up, and Emma led them to Henry's room.

"Henry?" Emma knocked on Henry's closed door.

"Go away." Henry's mumbles broke both women's hearts.

Regina decided to give it a try. "Henry, please open up, it's just Emma and I."

After a few seconds of silence, Henry relented. "Fine."

The two women opened the door and found Henry sitting on his bed with his arms crossed petulantly. The red-rimmed eyes showed he had just recently been crying. Without any kind of planning, both women went inside - Emma closed the door again so that they wouldn't be interrupted - and sat on either side of Henry, each with one arm around him.

"I'm sorry mom."

Emma stayed silent while Regina tried to figure out what to say. "No need to apologize, Henry. It's not your fault that tomato was thrown."

"But it is! If I hadn't been so determined to have the curse broken, this never would've happened."

"Henry, if the curse hadn't been broken, we wouldn't be celebrating your birthday right now."

It was a sobering thought, and the three fell in silence.

"I just wish they'd go away. Who even invited them?"

Emma groaned, "Your grandparents."

"Why though?"

"Didn't really bother to ask." Emma shrugged. Then she got an idea and grinned, looking to the two beside her. "But tell you what. How about tomorrow night, the three of us have dinner here together? And we'll really celebrate."

"That'd be cool!" Henry returned the grin enthusiastically, and rounded onto Regina, "You're gonna come, right?"

Regina looked quickly at Emma, who made a small gesture indicating she should say yes. "Of course Henry."

Perhaps she wasn't as alone as she thought she was.

* * *

**The next day:**

When Regina saw Kathryn coming into her office the next day, she was puzzled to say the least. She hadn't gotten a chance to thank the woman yesterday; by the time she got back from the conversation with Henry and Emma, Kathryn had apparently chased the dwarfs out, as well as a few other undesirables. The blonde herself had also left, though Regina had wished she could thank her.

"Good morning Kathryn."

"Hey. I was going to check in with your secretary, but she doesn't seem to be in so I just invited myself in, I hope you don't mind."

Regina waved it off. "My secretary quit, and I imagine I don't have to explain why she did so."

Kathryn sighed loudly as she plopped into the chair in front of her desk. "Man this town is filled with grudge-holding idiots. Aren't you feeling overwhelmed?"

"With what?"

Kathryn leveled Regina with a look. "Everything. The threats, the jeers, your workload, need I go on?"

"I don't much care for the threats and the jeers."

"I call bullshit. Come on, it's like saying that having someone poking you 24/7 doesn't bother you."

Regina attempted to be nonchalant in her response. "Even if they did bother me, it's not as if I can stop it."

"In Regina-speak, I'm thinking that means 'yes it bothers the hell out of me, but it won't stop those stubborn asses'. Am I wrong?"

Regina just gave a chuckle in response.

"I'm gonna take that as a yes. But seriously, that pile of papers on your desk look like it could offer one hell of a rival to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Why don't you try hiring someone new?"

The brunette scoffed and raised an eyebrow bemusedly. "You don't actually expect anyone to show up, right?"

"Why yes I do." Kathryn then pulled a piece of paper from a folder she had completely overlooked, and held it out to Regina. "My resume."

It took Regina a few seconds to realize just what was being handed to her. "You knew I was without a secretary, didn't you?"

The blonde shrugged. "The grapevine told me as much, though Ms. Nesbitt was convinced you threw her out, but I think she was just exaggerating."

Regina chuckled before remembering the piece of paper in her hands. "You really want to work for me? But what happened to law school?"

Kathryn waved it off. "That was cursed me. Although I do love politics and law, I prefer to watch rather than dive into the thick of it. Plus, I get to hang out with my friend."

It seemed Kathryn was out to make Regina speechless today. "You-you do?"

Kathryn let out a laugh. "Yes! Come on, not everyone wants you to burn at the stake."

"But the whole..." Regina wasn't sure how to describe it.

The blonde waved it off. "Forgive and forget. You were working out your issues with my ex-fiance and your nemesis, I've had to deal with worse in the Enchanted Forest. As long as you promise not to do it again, we're golden."

Regina nodded.

"Great! How about dinner tonight to celebrate?"

"Can't do dinner tonight, Henry wanted a quiet dinner to make up for yesterday's fiasco. How about you come to dinner at my house tomorrow evening? You can bring along Jim with you."

"Sure! I think Jim will skip this one, I'm still trying to get the block-head to let up on his prejudice."

Regina looked curiously at her friend. "He's angry at me?"

Kathryn shook her head. "More like he's apprehensive. Some people don't hate you Regina, they're just..."

"Scared of me."

* * *

**1 week later:**

"This is _absolutely_ unbelievable!" Emma was facing what seemed like the entire town crammed into Town Hall's meeting place. With her opening line, she had captured every pair of eyes.

"For the past month, I've seen everything: people teasing Regina, calling her names, threatening to kill her, vandalizing her car, ruining her garden and other belongings. I've seen people pick up weapons and give her dirty looks. But this, this absolutely  _disgusts me_."

As Emma looked around the room, she saw a few guilty-looking people, but most of them were staring at Emma as if she had 3 heads. But the Sheriff wasn't going to back down now. "You guys absolutely destroyed someone's home. Not only that, but did you guys even think to check and see if there was anyone inside the house?"

"We'd have loved to see her in the house! Then she could've burned with it!" Emma turned her glare to see Jeff Milton smirk in his response as a couple of his neighbours thumped him on the back in agreement.

"And what if Henry had been in there, Jeff?" And there, the mood changed and grew sombre.

"You guys claim to be from a land of fairytales, the good guys in a fight of good vs. evil, and you're all angry that a force of evil ripped you apart from your homes, made your lives living hell, and a whole slew of other things."

"Well she did!" Leroy piped up.

"Pot, meet kettle," Emma responded, crossing her arms. "Right now, how are you any different from the Evil Queen? When will you guys realize that innocent lives could've been lost, and giving Regina a taste of her own medicine would've accomplished absolutely nothing? I warn you though, I am calling an end to this vendetta, and am putting my foot down on this kind of behaviour.

"Not only that, but I'm setting up a new law. Anyone who is caught and found guilty of participating in this kind of act will be dealt with to the full extent of the law. I don't really care if Regina did this or did that. It was 30 years ago. Get over yourselves and move on. I am not above banishing you if push comes to shove, am I clear?"

* * *

**A few hours later:**

"Hey Em, how was the lecture?" Ruby had come by to drop some lunch for Emma, who had a splitting migraine after dealing with all those idiots this morning.

"You mean people haven't yelled about me all over town?" Emma asked, cracking an eyelid open from where it had previously been hidden by the cold compress she had been holding up to her forehead and eyes.

"Oh they have, but I figured I should ask, because I'm pretty sure you didn't foam at the mouth. If you did, I'm angry no one filmed it."

Emma flashed a weary smile. "Nope, no foaming, sorry to say."

"Damn. But you do know people aren't going to back down from this, right? You've practically challenged them."

"I'll deal with them, don't worry."

"Emma, you're a one-woman police force, how are you going to do this?"

The Sheriff removed the compress from her forehead and sat up to face Ruby. "Look I'm not exactly running the most popular spot in all of Storybrooke. No one here really has the galls or wants to work protecting Regina. But I'll manage. Plus I think Group Vitriol isn't that dumb to attack knowing what will happen if they do. I like to hope they have some common sense."

"Well, how about if I pick up the slack? I don't think Granny will agree to me outright quitting and joining the police, but I can take some shifts and help out. Plus I'm a werewolf, I'm a force to be reckoned with."

Emma grinned. "Deal."

* * *

**That night:**

"Can you fucking believe it? That bitch has enthralled Emma!" Leroy exclaimed.

"Yes I believe it's quite obvious Emma can't be acting of her own volition," Blue agreed, looking at Leroy with something akin to distaste as the dwarf downed another beer.

"So what's the plan then? As long as she has the Sheriff on her side, we can't touch her!" Whale kept looking around cautiously, as if he expected someone to jump out and call the Sheriff.

"We get rid of the Sheriff." Milton interjected.

"I ain't killing the daughter of Snow and Charming," Leroy says. "Not after everything."

Whale nods. "Yes, isn't there a way to break whatever sort of spell currently has a hold on her?"

"I should have something..." Blue mused. "It might take some time, but it would remove any spell from Emma."

"Perfect."

* * *

**2 days later:**

Owls were hooting as a figure made their way closer to the destroyed site of 108 Mifflin Street. Although they had wished the attack had never happened, it did make it a lot easier to hunt for books to help them, without having to worry that Mayor Mills would find them.

You see, the figure had just discovered they possessed magic. It was jarring to find out, but thankfully no one had been around when it had happened. They wanted to find a way to control and learn it, but no idea how to go about it. The only other two people that possessed and knew magic were Rumpelstiltskin and the Mayor herself, but they were sure the former wouldn't be interested in teaching, and the Mayor probably had enough to deal with without having to waste time teaching in them basic stuff. So a book would have to do for now.

Looking around, they tried to not step on the glass, bypassing the fallen furniture and destroyed curtains strewn about. Just being here made the figure's blood boil. How dare anyone be so disrespectful. The mayor deserved more, better. Perhaps they could find a way to show the brunette just that. It was an idea to add to the drawing board. Now they had to find some books and hopefully no neighbours would notice movements and call the police. That would be a disaster.

Finding the tomes in the office was easy enough, but which one to grab? They certainly couldn't grab all of the books, that would look suspicious, not to mention the mayor would undoubtedly notice it eventually.

Certain tomes stuck out at them, like  _Magick Basic_ , and  _Efficient Magic_ , so the figure took them. They could peruse the books and see if any of them were worthwhile, and return if need be, like a very dysfunctional library. They were thankful that the mayor had moved the books here, from wherever they had been before. The figure had overheard some dunces a few days ago at Granny's Diner talking about having wanted to burn the books, but having not been able to due to time constraints. The figure was thankful the dunce hadn't been able to burn the books, planning on taking advantage of this.

They only hoped that Mayor Mills wouldn't miss them all that much, or get too angry if she did find out.

* * *

**4 days later:**

"Mr. Robbe, I trust that we are at an understanding?"

Thomas Robbe nodded slowly, taking the money the figure was handing to him.

"Good, now scram. At most you can always claim plausible deniability, yes?"

Robbe never said a word, only nodding meekly before closing the till and leaving through the backroom. No way in hell was he going to get involved in this.

"Thank you for meeting, I trust we're all well aware of the plan?" The person sat down at the head of the table. The Rabbit Hole looked much eerier at night, empty and with most of the lights turned off, but that didn't deter the sole occupants of the establishment.

"Indeed, though I will be busy with other projects." The only woman of the group explained.

"Oh? More important than this?"

"As much as, you could say." The third person added. "We're trying to add kindle to the fire, getting the town riled up against the Queen. So many hearts with a renewed fire to them, it's marvelous to see."

"Ah, I see. As long as we remain on schedule..."

"Yes, don't be daft, we know our parts." The third figure scoffed. "As long as you hold up your end of the bargain, we'll hold ours."

"Speaking of which, do you have it?"

"Of course I do." The third figure took out the object he had been tasked to bring for tonight's meeting.

"Perfect, this will ensure cooperation from our pawns."

* * *

**Present/ 2 weeks later:**

Nurse Sanders hated the overnight shift. It also didn't help that there was a commotion earlier from the Sheriff being brought in after being nearly mauled by a bear. Now all she wanted was to sleep, but she still had 4 hours to go in her shift. So she decided to go get some coffee from the machine.

As she left her post, she left the program monitoring the status of all the current patients unattended on her screen.

Which was why she didn't hear anything as the heart monitor in room 4, currently housing Emma Swan, flat-lined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh I'm just terrible with cliffhangers, I probably need to create a barricade from all the glares everyone's going to have pointed at me.
> 
> And boy, this was the chapter that never ends huh? Every time I clicked save the doc suddenly had 1,000 words more! Crazy stuff.
> 
> Well I hope the flashbacks offered some insight for everyone regarding some background things mentioned and shady goings-on. For those that didn't connect the dots, the figure that was looking for the books, the one who has magic, is the Serenader, kept nameless because they hadn't received a name yet.
> 
> Also fun fact in the Old English dialect, dwarf is dweorg, hence Leroy's last name...okay it's kinda corny, but I had to come up with something! And Robbe is Rabbit in Mid Dutch apparently. Incredible that we have no idea who owns the Rabbit Hole.
> 
> To cap this all off, I found an extended version/edit of this song! Which features a dif/new lyric that I'm so going to use, and it'll come up next chapter so get excited!
> 
> Anyway, as always I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
> 
> Let me know your thoughts on the chapter!


	9. Permissions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm baaaaack!
> 
> As promised to people, updated today...ish! Cutting it kinda close, but it's more than 7,000 words! Plus I had to read it over once more to check for spelling mistakes and all that jazz.
> 
> Now without further ado, we continue with our adventures, this chapter featuring plenty of the Serenader's antics, as promised!
> 
> And remember, italics are flashbacks.

Nurse Sanders was on the verge of having an aneurysm. She had come back from her coffee break to hear the flat line, dropping the lukewarm coffee cup and its remaining contents onto the floor as she rushed to the monitor, trying to determine the source of the noise.

Seeing that it was Room # 4, she had scrambled to the room, hoping she wasn't too late to do something, anything.

Now, Nurse Sanders wasn't sure if she was relieved that Emma Swan's bed was empty, or terrified. On one hand, it probably meant the woman was alive. On the other hand, where could she have gone?

Before she could analyze anything and figure out her next steps - like who to contact and inform, she heard a toilet flush, and turning to the in-room bathroom, she saw the door open, revealing Emma Swan, clad in her hospital gown, looking a bit out of it, as well as cringing - presumably from the noise the machine was making.

Seeing the nurse there, Emma paused in her tracks, and gave a sheepish smile. "Uhm hi...I'm really sorry about the noise, I just really had to pee."

The nurse just kept staring flabbergasted, as if she couldn't quite believe what she was looking at.

Thinking the nurse was pissed at her, Emma added, "I tried to shut down the machine, but I think I was making it worse, and I  _really_  had to go."

"It's fine," Nurse Sanders waved it off, just glad her charge hadn't gone and died while she had indulged in some caffeine. "But you probably should get back into bed Ms. Swan."

"Yeah sure." Emma followed the nurse's recommendation, getting back into the bed, while the other woman quieted the machine and recalibrated it. "So, how long was I out?"

"Just a few hours."

Emma hummed, before asking, "What happened?"

"What do you last remember?"

"I was in the forest, tracking down a lead, and then a bear came out of nowhere and started to chase me. I ran back to the cruiser, I had a taser somewhere in the car, because I didn't want to hurt him, but also needed him to stop chasing me down, and then I blacked out, I think it started attacking me and I was trying to defend myself." Emma looked down at her bandages, on both her arms and stomach, seeing some red seep through. "What happened after that?"

"Well apparently someone was nearby and while you were fighting the bear, radioed for help. I was near dispatch and heard you, so you were still conscious. Did you see anyone? A man perhaps? The voice was that of a man's."

Emma shook her head, although she was well aware who the man was. "Any idea what happened to the bear?"

Now it was the nurse's turn to shake her head. "None. When the ambulance arrived, you were unconscious beside the cruiser, a broken stick by your hand, and alone."

The blonde just nodded slowly, not saying a word as she pondered.

"You should probably get some sleep."

"Yeah, I am feeling kinda tired." Emma got comfy in the hospital bed, and after she was hooked up once more, she fell into a deep slumber.

* * *

_"RUN!"_

_Both adults began tearing away from the enormous brown bear in front of them._

_"Maps! You go radio for help! And then **leave**!"_

_"But-"_

_"Just **go**! The cruiser's unlocked, just punch in both 'hospital' and 'fire department' on the radio and let them know what's going on, I'll fend him off!"_

_The man decided to follow orders, sparing one last glance behind him before running further ahead towards the cruiser. Emma meanwhile kept running as she thought. She had to try and fend Bobby off without hurting him. But what could she use? Then she remembered the taser somewhere in the glove compartment, and followed after Maps, hoping she could incapacitate Bobby as painlessly as she could._

_As Emma tore through the clearing, she saw Maps catching his breath as he opened the driver's side of the door and stuck his upper body inside, trying to communicate help to someone. Meanwhile, Emma had to stall until Maps finished, otherwise Bobby would trample on the cruiser and they'd both be done for._

_Grabbing anything to defend herself, Emma felt pathetic as the bear sped towards her and all she had was a measly stick._

_Maps kept looking over at the Sheriff, knowing he had to do something. He had just finished talking to dispatchers, and they said they were probably 10 minutes away. They could be dead by then._

_"Maps, **RUN**!" Emma couldn't understand why the man wouldn't budge. Hadn't they decided that for his family's safety and to keep up their charade, he couldn't be seen with her? "AH!"_

_While she had been looking away, the bear slashed at her stomach, leaving some nasty wounds. She was rapidly losing blood, and her arms had already received the same treatment from Bobby's claws. She was losing focus, but she had to keep going._

_"Hey Pottage!" Maps yelled, chuckling a rock at the bear. The animal paused in his attack once the stone connected with him, and turned to Maps._

_Emma rounded onto the delinquent as well. "What the hell are you doing?"_

_"Don't worry! I've dealt with bears before!" Maps then sped off into the thick of the woods, with the bear hot on his trail._

_"WAIT!" Emma tried to run after them, but by the time she made her way to the cruiser, she just couldn't take it anymore. Her body felt sore and heavy, and her mind was clouded, probably from the amount of blood she was losing. Last thing she saw before everything went dark was the world turning to the side as she collapsed._

* * *

Emma woke up the next morning with a groan. She really felt like shit, and probably looked like it too. Last night during her escapade - or fiasco, depending on who was asked - she barely looked at herself in the bathroom mirror, knowing she probably looked like something undead or stumbled straight out of a trashcan...or probably a combination of both, knowing her luck.

"And the Saviour awakens! I've heard you've been having a crazy time since the curse broke." A voice spoke from the doorway.

The blonde turned and grinned, "August!"

The tall man hobbled over towards the bed, and sat down in the visitor's chair. "The one and only."

"How've you been? I tried to visit you but Mathias said you were off-limits because of some complicated reason that I barely understood. They said they'd let me know once you were feeling better."

August made a face of confusion. "Off-limits? I was just getting healed, and needed to stay here while the magic did its thing for 'observations', that's it."

"His words, not mine," Emma shrugged.

"Weird. I'll have to ask him about it. But anyway, I still can't wrap my head around the fact that Gold would help me out, but he said he had his reasons, and I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Though I probably should be weary that the Dark One is taking an interest in me."

Emma raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "That is sort of weird, better hope you don't have to owe him for this, I know I still do."

"Does 'I'm sure you'll find some way to repay me' count?"

"Probably," Emma nodded.

August looked pensive for a moment before he shook his head. "But enough about me, you went toe to toe with a freaking  _bear_! How was that like?"

Emma grimaced, "Painful."

August smirked. "Yes that much I can tell. What were you doing in the forest in the first place? Last I heard, you were off chasing a Serenader or something."

"Still am, but this was a lead for another case. One with a tree thief."

"Oh I heard about it. Did you find what you were looking for?"

Emma shook her head. "Nope, it was all for naught really." It wasn't that Emma didn't trust August enough to tell him the truth, it was just that right now, she wanted to play it close to the chest regarding this case, and to whom she revealed the information.

"That sucks. Well hopefully you'll be able to get healed soon."

Emma tilted her head slightly at August's answer. "Get healed? What do you mean?"

"Oh right, yesterday night, Henry and Regina came by, apparently Whale called them - or probably just Henry - and Regina wanted to heal you, but the hospital and your parents refused to do so. They said that they didn't want to be responsible if it turned out to be a trick, or worsened your condition; it was really a ferocious battle, I came out of my room because it was so chaotic. In the end, they said that they would ask you once you woke up, and allow you to choose."

Emma's eyes were bugging out. Regina fought to try and heal her last night? She was floored at the revelation. "I don't see why not, it's not like I want to be stuck here. Plus she's healed me before, saved me from a lot of pain."

"The stabbing, right?" Emma nodded. "Yeah I've been out of the town's eye but between Mathias, my dad, and the Daily Mirror, I've been pretty informed on the comings and goings of Storybrooke. So, you trust her?"

It didn't take Emma any time to realize who August was talking about. She braced herself for the worst before nodding and saying, "Yes, I do."

"If you do, then so do I."

Emma did a double take. Wanting to make sure she heard right, she said, "What? You do?"

August chuckled and nodded. "Of course. Who better than the Saviour to know."

Emma hummed unenthusiastically. "I wish it wasn't just because I was the Saviour."

"I thought you had accepted your role?"

"I accepted it because the situation called for it, but I'm not some Saviour, people keep treating me either like I'm some higher deity who holds all their answers, or the perfect princess child of the town's power couple, or think I'm off my rocker and being bewitched or threatened by Regina because I stand up for her. Why can't people just respect me as Emma, just some average person, or a nameless nobody even. But no, Emma Swan must  _always_  be in the limelight."

August blinked, eyes wide. "I'm guessing this is an issue that's been bothering you for a while. You haven't really talked to anyone about it?"

"Who  _can_  I talk to? Regina's constantly worrying about whether or not someone will try to kill her, so I don't want to bother her, Ruby means well and would be great to talk to, but she's either busy at the diner or taking over my shift, not leaving a lot of time to just hang out and talk."

"Well, you got me. Even if our friendship isn't really defined, what with my abandoning you all those years ago and all of that, I want to make up for that, if you want?"

"Yeah, it'd be great to have another friend." Emma grinned, before taking a chance and adding, "I don't suppose you'll also consider joining the cause and becoming part of the town's police force?"

August let out a hearty guffaw. "Emma, you're asking a writer with a wooden leg to join you in the police force? You must be desperate."

She shrugged. "Do you honestly think I have anyone lining up to help me? All I've got is Ruby part-timing. And Regina had only ever put in one guy in the force during the curse because this was a small town. How was anyone to guess it'd be this chaotic."

"Touche. Still can't help you Emma, I'm pretty sure I'd do no favours trying to chase people down."

Emma groaned, falling back into the pillows. "This is a nightmare. I need to solve 2 mysteries, protect an ex-Evil Queen from homicidal citizens, punish said homicidal citizens if they get out of line, but not allowed to do anything drastic because we've only got 2 measly jail cells, and no one really takes the banishment threat seriously."

August gave a weak smile and squeezed Emma's arm comfortingly. "Well the most I can do is I can help you out with cases and stuff. Offering expertise."

Now it was Emma's turn to laugh. "Okay, what the  _hell_  kind of expertise can  _you_  offer?"

"Oh come on, I'm a writer, if there's one thing we know, are stories. And cases are stories."

"I think I was going to have better luck with you helping me chase down criminals with that wooden leg of yours." Emma grinned. "Speaking of, Gold's magic doesn't work on the bum leg?"

August shook his head. "Nope. Gold was able to reverse most of it, but my leg is where it all started, or as he said, 'the root of the magic within you', so it's staying. But I don't mind, it's more than Blue was able to offer."

"What did she offer?" Emma snorted, "Fairy dust and a nice space in her shelf for one you turned back into a puppet?"

"Could've been as much. She'd cure everything but I'd go back to being a boy. Can you imagine? I've already had to do my time, no  _way_  I'm going back to relive everything again. I'm sticking with the bum leg and a nice desk job. Even if it means owing the Dark One."

Before Emma could say anything else, perhaps even try to convince August once more to consider a job with her, the door opened, revealing Regina Mills, who did a terrible job at hiding her relief at seeing Emma awake and smiling.

"Ms. Swan, it's good to see you're awake. How are you feeling?"

Emma shrugged, "Been better."

August meanwhile was under the impression he was intruding, so he stood up and cleared his throat. "Well I'll be going back to my room. It was nice to talk to you Emma, take care."

"Yeah, let me know when you're released, we can go get coffee or something."

"Will do." August turned to Regina and gave her a weak smile and a nod, "Mayor Mills."

Regina said nor did nothing, waiting until the door was closed before reacting. "I see you're rekindling your friendship with Mr. Booth."

Emma noted the venom laced onto August's name, and set out to try and diffuse the prejudice. "He's an okay guy, and don't be too quick to judge him, he's on our side."

The brunette raised an eyebrow. "'Our side'? Now what in the world is that supposed to mean?"

"You know what it means Regina. He supports you."

"Probably only because of  _you_."

"So what if he does Regina? He's still giving you the benefit of the doubt, and that's more than can be said from half of the town. Don't write him out just yet. Please."

Regina was quiet as she pondered Emma's words. She supposed the blonde was right, so she sighed and nodded. "Very well. I'll try. Now I came here because I wanted to try and heal you, but yesterday they said that-"

"I had to be awake, yeah August told me about the whole debacle. And you should know you always have my permission, Regina." Emma smiled at the brunette.

For her part, Regina tried to keep her facade neutral, merely giving a small smile, and a nod, despite how ecstatic the words really made her feel. "Very well. It won't hurt, it'll be like last time."

"Don't worry, just go for it." Emma reached to grab Regina's hand and gave a comforting squeeze.

The brunette nodded and set to work. Emma laid back on the bed and immediately started to feel relief from the wounds as she felt them closing up.

* * *

"Now, I trust today you'll be staying home and in bed, Ms. Swan."

Emma had been discharged from the hospital since her wounds were healed. Whale had not been the least bit happy once he had come in to find Regina with her hands glowing purple over his patient. But Emma had explained that she had given Regina her permission, so Whale just stalked off, mumbling about something or other. Once Regina was done, she magicked some clothes for Emma to wear - she was going to bring it with her, but didn't want to seem presumptuous as to whether or not Emma would want to be healed.

"But-"

"I've already taken the liberty of coordinating with Ms. Lucas to take over your shift. I was prepared to use money incentive to get her to cooperate, even with Ms. French to take over, if need be, but apparently Ms. Lucas took it upon herself to square everything away after hearing what happened, and she'll be meeting us at the apartment."

Emma looked over to Regina from where she was seated in the passenger seat. "Why?"

"First of all because you have some explaining to do Ms. Swan, as to what you were doing in the forest in the first place, and secondly, the Serenader left something this morning."

* * *

_Regina's heart had plummeted from the moment Whale had said that it was about Emma._

_Now standing in the hospital waiting room, while Henry sat silently off to one side, she wondered if anyone could hear how hard her heart was beating._

_"What happened?"_

_Whale sighed, putting down his clipboard, before deciding that this went beyond his personal feelings on who he was speaking to. "We're not too sure ourselves. We received a call from dispatch coming from Emma's cruiser, saying that a bear was attacking 'them' and to please help. When the ambulances arrived, she was alone, unconscious and badly injured. We brought her here and the firefighters went off to try and find the mysterious bear, but we haven't heard from them. As for the wounds, they're deep, but I believe she'll make a full recovery."_

_"Well, what if I-"_

_"Whale!" Regina closed her eyes and prayed for patience as she heard the sounds of two pairs of feet rushing towards them. "Where is she? Where's Emma?"_

_While the doctor explained the situation once more to the Charmings, Regina walked over to where Henry sat, idly swinging his feet from the chair, clearly trying to keep himself awake. "Hey."_

_Henry looked up and smiled sleepily. "Hey mom, is ma okay?"_

_Regina nodded, going to sit beside him, feeling a twinge of happiness as he huddled closer to her. She started stroking his hair soothingly and replied, "Yes, she is. She's a bit hurt though, so she'll be staying over at the hospital."_

_The boy yawned and asked, "Isn't there anything we can do to help?"_

_"Well, I am going to try and see if I can heal Emma, it shouldn't be too hard, and that way she can come home sooner, okay?"_

_Henry looked up and smiled at her, nodding enthusiastically. "You'd really do that for her?"_

_"Of course Henry. Emma has been there for me for the past few months, so it's the least I can do for her as thank you. Now you wait here, I'm going to try to speak to Whale."_

_Regina stood up and took a deep breath. It was clear that Whale was giving the Charmings a more detailed report, but it didn't deter Regina from walking up to them, hoping to get her request fulfilled. "I would like to heal Ms. Swan."_

_Three pair of eyes turned to her, displaying a mix of confusion, anger, and trepidation. Whale was the first to recover, saying, "You want to **what**?"_

_"Heal her. I have magic, and from what you said, Ms. Swan is in pain, and I would like to alleviate her of it."_

_David shook his head as if trying to clear it before he asked, "What in the world are you even doing here? This doesn't concern you."_

_Regina turned to face David and tilted her head a bit. "It depends on how you look at it Charming. Considering that Whale was finding it pertinent to call an 11-year old boy to let him know his mother was in the hospital because she was attacked by a bear, had I not intercepted the call, I think that my being here to keep Henry," she nudged her head to point to where Henry was sitting, "informed **does**  concern me."_

_"Then we'll take it from here, Regina. You can go home, and Henry will stay safe with us," Mary Margaret said, defiantly looking Regina right in the eye, as if daring her to counter._

_Of course, Regina was not in the mood, she wasn't going to take this one lying down, and responded with, "I will do no such thing. Henry came and will leave with me, his mother, and even if you do not like admitting to it, I am just as much Henry's family as you are." Before either of the two dunces could rebuke, Regina wheeled around to face Whale and said, "Now, may I please enter so I can heal Ms. Swan."_

_"No." Whale responded firmly._

_"No?"_

_"No. Not only do you not have any rights to visit Ms. Swan, since it's limited to family only, but I will not risk being made responsible for one of your tricks."_

_Regina scoffed. "Tricks? This is not a trick, I am-"_

_"I don't care if you are or are not. As a doctor, I am responsible for my patients and will not risk their health because you need to have the upper hand."_

_"You are a joke. Do you not remember that it was this curse that made you a doctor?"_

_"I was already a practitioner of the medical arts, your Majesty, but if we're going to go that route, then you're not really Mayor, now are you? So decide, either we are our cursed identities, or we're not." Whale smirked as he ended his response, knowing he had her there._

_Regina huffed. "Very well. But I-"_

_"Why are you so adamant about doing this, Regina?" Mary Margaret asked, interrupting Regina._

_She whipped around to face the loathsome woman, feeling her anger brimming close to the surface. "Because I told Henry I would; he is worried about his mother-"_

_"I thought **you**  were his mother," David countered, looking at Regina, and she could see the faintest smug smirk sneaking into his expression._

_"I am, but Ms. Swan is also as well. If you have not yet grasped the concept of cohabitation, Charming, then I suggest you brush up before you attempt to meddle in matters you don't understand."_

_"You're avoiding the question Regina." Mary Margaret said, trying to get the conversation back on track. "You cite Henry, but I know you, you don't do things if it doesn't benefit you as well, so what do you get out of this?"_

_"She gets to stay safe by keeping her precious shield against the town intact and keep her head attached to her neck for a while longer," Whale snorted, smirking._

_Regina really and truly wanted to choke the 3 adults currently ganging up on her, and was tempted to do it, if she hadn't see Henry's inquisitive expression staring at her from where he was perched on the chairs. She had to be the bigger person here. For him, and for Emma. "For once, you are all wrong. My only reasons for wanting to heal Ms. Swan is Henry and Emma herself."_

_"Oh, Emma is now part of your reasons too? Do enlighten me." Mary Margaret said, feigning surprise, crossing her arms in front of her._

_"She has done more for me these past few months than most of this town combined, and I feel that this would be a way of helping to say thank you and repaying her. Now if you three are done, I am going to go heal Ms Swan, and then leave, with Henry." Regina said with a tone of finality, turning to face the door to Emma's room._

_"You will do no such thing, witch." David now stepped in between Regina and the door, trying to block her from going in. "You don't have the hospital's nor **our**  permission to enter and heal Emma, so you will not be allowed to enter and do a thing."_

_"And what if Ms. Swan herself should allow me to heal her?" Regina asked, trying to keep her temper in check._

_"Then she can suggest as much, **when**  she comes to. Until then, you are not welcome here."_

_"Very well. If your choice is to let your daughter suffer in pain just because **you**  won't bend your arm to let me help her because of a moronic grudge, then so be it." Regina turned and walked back to where Henry was, unsure how she was going to explain it to him. By that point nearly the entire hospital had gathered to watch the four of them duke it out, and it made Regina feel uncomfortable. How much more of this was she going to have to endure, and how much was she going be able to handle?_

* * *

"So, what did they drop off this time?" Emma asked as Regina went to open the door to the apartment. Thankfully Henry was already at school, so the three of them could converse in peace.

Entering the place, Emma saw Ruby sitting at their table, and Kathryn was beside her, both drinking a mug of coffee each.

"Em! You're okay!" Ruby launched herself at her friend, hugging her tightly. After a few second,s she quickly let go and said, "Oh shoot, I should've asked, are you still in pain?"

Emma grinned and nodded. "Nah, I'm fine. Regina was able to heal me."

"About time," Kathryn chuckled.

Regina smiled, this felt right to her. Her friends together and conversing, without external tension from others. It was so much different than the rest of Storybrooke, where she was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. "Perhaps we should now gather and listen to Ms. Swan's story."

The two other women nodded, going back to sit at the table. Meanwhile, Regina grabbed an object along with a card, and handed it to Emma. "The Serenader dropped off a snow globe, with a card."

Emma took both items and looked at them. The globe had a polished wooden base, and inside the glass sphere, a nebula could be seen. Emma gave it a light shake, seeing specks of what were probably stars floating around, twinkling in the light.

The card was much like the first card that Regina had received, nearly a week ago.

**_'Cause you're a sky full of stars_ **

"Cute gift." Emma said after a few minutes of staring at the globe, sitting down at the table.

Regina hummed in agreement.

"Oh come on Regina, you love it, it's okay to squeal." Kathryn nudged her friend with a smirk.

"We can talk about that later. I want to know about the freaking bear I didn't even know we had in town!" Ruby said, brimming with excitement, getting Emma to look up from the gift.

"It was Bobby," Emma said without preamble.

"The teenager with issues? What about him?" Ruby asked.

"He's the bear. I think that, when he ran away a few days ago and into the forest, he just started aimlessly wandering around. But since we don't have the entire perimeter marked, I think he crossed the town border by accident, getting the glamour from the curse to drop, and he not only lost his memory, but he's now a bear."

The three women looked ashen at Emma's revelation.

"Like a fully grown bear with fur and claws and teeth?" Kathryn asked, looking more horrified by the second.

"Yep, the whole nine yards of bear is in that kid, and he is angry. But he did respond to Pottage, which does give me the idea that maybe he's not completely gone. Either that or he reacted to the rock. But I'm hoping he still can be saved."

"Wait, rock? Wouldn't you be wanting to get _away_  from him? Not trying to provoke him into getting angrier?" Ruby asked.

"I uh...I wasn't alone in the forest."

"What do you mean?" Regina asked.

Emma bit her lip briefly before replying, "I was following a lead on the stolen stuff from Mr. Nelson...and had company."

"I'm not sure if I should be jealous that you had someone else helping you, or not." Ruby said, narrowing her eyes.

"No, it was...an informant, you're still my deputy, Rubes."

Said brunette grinned and nodded, "That's all I needed to know, carry on."

"Who was your informant?" Regina pressed.

Emma debated whether she should say anything. She was within a trustworthy circle, so she supposed it was alright. "Maps."

"'Wayward Gang' Maps?!" Ruby nearly fell out of her chair, grasping at the table so firmly that Emma wouldn't be surprised if she left imprints on the wood. "Like the guy that stabbed you last week and 'tried to extort Ashley's family' Maps? Are you out of your mind?!"

The Sheriff looked around at the other people at the table. Kathryn's eyes were bugging out, while Regina's expression, although unreadable by many, Emma knew to mean that Regina was ready to burn something, or someone. "No, I'm not...he told me where to find the supplies and why he was doing this."

Ruby made an exasperated gesture with her hands before slamming them back on the table. "Great, he has a motive, congrats for him, but why in the world would you even  _listen_  to him?"

"Or go alone. You could have at least notified someone that you were going to be gallivanting with dangerous criminals," Regina added, seething.

"Because he's being threatened and I thought that the less people that knew the better." Emma responded quickly, to get everyone to calm down. "I had to find out whether Maps was being trustworthy or not, and I didn't want to worry anyone. It was just the two of us so I thought that if push came to shove, I could take him. I already did it before-"

"But you didn't think a  _freaking **bear**_  would be part of his plan!" Ruby exclaimed.

"I actually don't think Bobby was part of the plan."

"Why not?" Kathryn piped up. She had only come here because Regina said she would be late to work, explaining what had happened with Emma and the bear, and Kathryn told Regina not to worry, to go to the hospital, and that she would meet her at the apartment. Now she was reeling from the tale Emma was telling.

"Because Mrs. Pottage said they weren't shape-shifters. So Bobby must've crossed the border to turn into a bear, meaning it'd be a big risk to take just for this."

"Never saw them as taking accountability into reason," Ruby murmured.

"I agree with Ms. Lucas," Regina added.

"I don't either, but for all the cool street cred Bobby would gain, I don't think he's all for hurting people, but rather just looking for a thrill, and I don't think he'd agree to hurt me."

Regina said, "Maybe not, but perhaps he wasn't aware of the plan? He could've just been told to go the border and return-"

"And lose his memories? I don't think so."

"Angry people aren't the most rational." Ruby countered.

"Okay, say for a second you guys are right. Bobby, the desperado wanting some street cred, goes along with the plan and crosses the border, turns into a bear, and comes back. He's violent but Maps is still determined to see this plan through. Explain to me why he would defend me. Why Maps would try to distract the bear and have it run after him? And from what I've heard, he's nowhere to be found."

"Maps did what?" Ruby asked.

"He was the one that spoke with the dispatcher, and despite me telling him to leave, he stayed, and got Bobby to back off and chase him by taunting him. I don't know, I'm not going to forgive the guy anytime soon, but right now, I believe him when he says he's being threatened."

"Who is he  _supposedly_  being threatened by?"

Emma looked at Regina, and said, "He doesn't know. Said that whoever it was, they altered his memory, but apparently they were able to take his heart."

Regina was trying not to be too shocked, or too angry, forcing herself to be calm as she said, "You think  _I_ -"

" **No** ," Emma enunciated, keeping her eyes locked with the brunette, trying to convey her sincerity behind the words. "But I do want to know if you know anyone else who would be able to."

"Only Gold."

"Well, either he or someone else is targeting those delinquents. For some reason."

"And  _what_  could they  _possibly_  have to lose?" Kathryn piped up.

"Their little brother, Timmy. They are being threatened with being banished - which normally wouldn't bother them - but they would be leaving Timmy behind, effectively abandoning the kid - something that they refuse to do."

The four women fell silent as they pondered. This case was becoming crazier by the second.

"So what was the plan you guys had thought up?" Ruby asked.

"The plan is to go along with the extortioner's plan, which is to drop off the wood supplies in the Cannery's warehouse before Thursday night, and see what happens next. My job as Sheriff is to protect people, and I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt."

Ruby nodded, and then got all business. "Okay, tell me what I have to do."

Emma pondered for a moment, thinking of what needed to be done. "I'd just need you to talk to Sean, get him to free up the Cannery warehouse and give you the keys. Also to get David and try to catch Bobby. Then we can see how to turn him back."

"I might be able to help with that." Regina offered.

"Okay good. Then we're going to need to get the pick-up truck out of the Marine Garage so the Wayward Gang can load up the stuff to drop it off at the warehouse. But we need to make sure this stays between us. No one else can know about this." Emma looked pointedly at Ruby before adding, "Got it?"

"Crystal clear boss." Ruby nodded.

"What about the Serenader?" Kathryn asked, looking at the globe siting in front of Emma.

"Well Henry was going to go over the Town Census and try to solve the mystery," Regina said, "So I think he's unofficially taken over that case. Plus I think that right now, this mysterious extortioner should be our top priority. Unless the Serenader does something drastic, I'm all for letting them keep going."

"Someone's smitten," Kathryn teasingly sang. "Admit it Regina."

Regina said nothing, but all 3 women saw her minuscule smile as she stood up. She cleared her throat and said, "We should probably get back to work."

"Well I suppose I'm stuck here."

"Yes you are, Ms. Swan. You so much as take one step out of that door, I will drag you back here and nail you to the bed, as promised." Regina made sure to punctuate it was an overly sweet smile.

Emma just gave a sheepish grin. "Who said anything about leaving? Nope not me! Just make sure to keep me updated, I'll die of boredom otherwise. Maybe I'll try to get in touch with the Wayward Gang, see if Maps made it back alright."

* * *

Regina entered Town Hall and made her way to her office, stopping by Kathryn's desk.

"So, how is the Sheriff faring?"

"Bored out of her mind, as you can imagine," Regina smirked.

The morning had been relatively dull for them, Ruby was off in the forest along with Mr. Nelson, David, Mandy and Barry Pottage, trying to locate Bobby. So far they hadn't been notified that the bear boy had been found, so they were still waiting for news.

Emma had made a quick call to the Tech Shop and confirmed Maps was alright, as well as deciding that they would talk personally another time.

Regina and Kathryn had had an average morning, working on town matters and budget reports. When lunchtime had come around, Kathryn had gone to grab food for the two of them, as well as something for Emma. Once Kathryn returned, the two friends ate their lunch, and when they were finished, Regina went to the apartment to drop off the food for Emma, as well as update her on things.

"I have no doubt. Though she is probably thankful she doesn't have to deal with all the madness for once."

"Quite true. Were there any calls while I was away?"

Kathryn shook her head. "None."

Regina hummed, and then went back to her office. Closing the doors, Regina paused. She hadn't closed the curtains, so who-

Suddenly, Regina gave a small yelp as the room erupted into light from what seemed like hundreds of stars scattered around the walls of her office. Looking towards the middle of the room, she saw a collapsible metal colander semi-closed, holding a candle inside it, lighting up the entire room from the holes covering the perimeter. It looked wonderful, Regina had to admit.

Next, she heard a small whoosh and looked up. There on her desk's edges, stood 10 sparklers on the simple wooden incense stands, lit up and crackling. Walking up to them, on the middle of her pristine desk sat a card with a new set of words:

**_'Cause in your eyes there's a spark_ **

Regina let out a soft gasp. But the candle and sparklers couldn't have lit themselves so... she whipped around and found herself smiling. "And here I was thinking I wouldn't see you again."

The Serenader stepped out from the shadows near her fireplace with a chuckle, "Of course you would, in the worst case scenario you'd see me at the end, giving you your final gift."

"Oh? You already have it planned out?" Regina asked, leaning against her desk, taking care to not disturb the sparklers as they continued to burn out.

"Certainly. It wouldn't do me any favours to be unprepared, now would it?" the figure responded, walking towards Regina. Once they were standing in front of her, the Serenader cleared their throat and asked, "May I?"

Regina tilted her head slightly. "May you what?"

"Kiss you."

Regina gave a simple nod, and then found her head gently cradled as they brought their lips to hers. Regina didn't even hesitate as the deepened the kiss.

Once they broke apart, the brunette couldn't hide the goofy grin on her face. She felt strangely safe right now, and shifted forward so she was in their arms. Feeling their arms encircle her, she let out a sigh.

"Are you okay?"

"Hmm? Why wouldn't I be?" Regina asked, not wanting to leave the comfort of their arms.

"Because of everything that's been going on. You don't deserve this all this madness."

She broke away from the hug with a wan smile. "I think the rest of the town would quickly disagree with you."

"Let them," the Serenader shrugged, adding, "Don't let their angry judgment get to you. You are so much better than all the slurs and insults they throw at you, okay?"

Regina nodded. They then left a kiss on the tip of her nose. It was a sweet gesture, one she wouldn't dare to admit that she liked, at least not now. She decided to change the subject, looking at the candle inside the colander, still burning. "So, you can do magic?"

The Serenader nodded. "Indeed."

"Since when have you had it?"

"Only found out about it a few weeks ago. It was sort of jarring."

"Ah, then I'd be right in guessing that the missing magic books are in your possession?"

She was sure that if she could see their face, they'd be smiling bashfully. "Guilty as charged...but in my defense, I just wanted to learn, and figured that was the most low-key option."

Regina chuckled, going to give the Serenader a quick peck on the lips. "You could have just asked."

The Serenader snorted. "Remember me? Shy loser who can't even think to ask you out on a date personally?"

"You are not a loser, dear, don't sell yourself short," Regina responded, going to kiss them again. "Besides, asking me out on a date is completely different than asking for instruction on magic."

The Serenader stuck their hands in their pockets, and Regina assumed they looked down as they mumbled, "I didn't want to bother you either, figured you had better things to do than teach basics, like dealing with all the crap from everyone."

Regina hooked a finger underneath the Serenader's chin, getting them to look back up at her. "You wouldn't be bothering, I promise."

"Yeah?"

She hummed and gave a nod, grabbing the Serenader by the stitching on their hoodie's shoulder, and pulling them back to her, as she brought their lips together once more for a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Confession time!
> 
> I had originally been really conflicted over this part of this story because of the song lyrics. You see, in the original version of the song, the lyrics go:
> 
> 'Cause you're a sky, 'cause you're a sky full of stars  
> I wanna die in your arms
> 
> And for the life of me, I couldn't make that last lyric sound anywhere near as romantic. Like in the song yeah sure whatever, it works. But as a serenading line? By itself? Sounds like something melodramatic out of Romeo & Juliet. Or at least for me, if someone tried to serenade me with that line, I'd probably smack them upside the head.
> 
> So when I found the extended version of the song, it goes:
> 
> 'Cause in your eyes, 'cause in your eyes there's a spark  
> I wanna die in your arms
> 
> And I loved the first line, and as you saw, I kinda mixed it together. I hope no one minds the creative liberty that I took!
> 
> But anyway, back to the chapter! As you can see, I'm totally capable of ending a chapter without an agonizing cliffhanger. But next chapter, the Serenader needs to watch out! The town will be after their tail. Yikes!
> 
> And yes! August is being introduced, I've been wanting to bring him in, see how he adds to the story.
> 
> So what'd you think of the Serenader's appearance? I wanted it to be mushy and fluffy after so long not having really appeared.
> 
> Since majority won with option B, that's the schedule I'll be following. So next fics to be updated will be Welcome to Storybrooke, then In Sickness and in Health!
> 
> I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you thought!


	10. Misdirection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> Chapter 10 of this adventure has arrived! It's a bit shorter than usual, but anyway!
> 
> Everyone is very excited and very curious as to the going-on's of Storybrooke, so be patient! Everything shall be explained eventually!
> 
> One thing that has turned into the popular questions, are in regards to the Serenader's identity, and their antics, particularly Regina's theories and guesses. Who is the Serenader, how can they be doing this, does Regina have any idea who the Serenader is, considering she is kissing them?
> 
> All those answers shall soon be answered, but one I will answer is this:
> 
> Regina has no idea who she is kissing, and the Serenader, as I had explained earlier, has this foggy cover magic going on. Clearly they found the spell in the book, and perfected it to work for them while they were doing Serenader stuff. Does that make sense? I hope it makes sense.
> 
> Just think of it like this. Visualize a random human in a hoodie. Now try to imagine that, instead of seeing their shadowed face, you see a blanket of fog. Like that pea soup fog that makes you think that you somehow migrated to the middle of a noir mystery movie and the detective's meeting an informant at night near a fishy dock [geddit?]. You can still touch the person, kiss their lips, but your vision of them is unclear. Does that help to visualize it?
> 
> If it still isn't clear, then please let me know, I'll strive to be even clearer...somehow. Or you can see the Serenader on the cover and see what I mean a bit more.
> 
> Enjoy this chapter!

"I should probably take my leave," the Serenader murmured after they broke apart.

"Any chances that I get to see you soon?"

"Of course; like I said, I've got everything planned out; now, if you'll excuse me," the Serenader backed off and held their arms out a bit. "The first time I tried to poof, I wound up on top of the clock tower."

"The clock tower, really?" Regina asked, eyebrow raised in amusement.

"It wasn't a fun experience trying to get down. Hey no laughing, I'm still training," Regina could just hear the pouting coming from the figure's voice.

"I'm not laughing," she innocently responded, looking away and trying to bite her lip to stifle her laughter.

"You so are!"

Regina burst out chuckling then, not being able to contain it anymore. It made the Serenader grin, even though the brunette couldn't see it. They took the opportunity to gently reach out to her and pull her in for another kiss.

"Okay, for real now."

"You're going to try and 'poof'?" Regina asked with a grin.

"Hey the name works!"

"Of course, whatever you say dear. But if I may offer you a suggestion," she said, and once the Serenader nodded, Regina added, "don't think too hard about where you're going. Breathe, relax, unclench your fists, and then let your destination flood your mind."

In a flash of white smoke, the Serenader vanished.

* * *

A few hours later, Henry was bounding into Regina's office, with Kathryn trailing after.

"Hey mom!"

"Henry, how was school?" Regina asked, standing up and making her way around the desk.

"It was alright...is ma okay?"

Regina nodded, "Yes, I healed her and she is resting at home."

Henry grinned and went to give her a crushing hug.

"So, anything new on the Serenader?" Henry asked after they separated.

"You're certainly excited," she chuckled, ruffling his hair a bit.

"Well yeah! I'm going to solve this mystery! And you can get your happy ending! Now come on and let's get to the town records!" Henry grabbed her hand and was practically pulling Regina out the office, and she let him lead her. She silently communicated to Kathryn to hold down the fort, and followed Henry.

Half an hour later, Henry was madly scribbling the names down on his notebook as he reached the end of the list. "Why keep redoing the census if it never changed?"

"Well, it was purely for statistical purposes. Should anyone have ever showed up for whatever reason and decide to verify anything, the paperwork would be there."

"But the people didn't age," Henry countered, putting his pencil down, finally finished.

"A minor detail," Regina responded, shrugging the matter off. "Besides, now we have 3 more residents so the next census will count."

Henry gave his mom a look. "I doubt a baby is doing all of this mom. August was stuck in a hospital the entire time. And ma..."

Regina waited for Henry to finish his sentence, but when he didn't, she prompted, "Henry? Is everything okay?"

"Do you think ma could be the Serenader?"

The brunette woman's eyebrows raised as she did a double take. "That's absurd Henry, Emma can't be the Serenader-"

"Why not? It makes perfect sense! Has anyone ever seen her in the same place and time as the Serenader?"

"Henry, more than half the town hasn't been seen beside the Serenader..."

"Oh come on mom, can't you see her as the Serenader?"

Regina sighed, and thought about it. The adorable dorkiness, the care and love, it could be, but... "Emma doesn't have magic."

"The Serenader has magic?" Henry asked, eyes wide.

She nodded. "They came by today after lunch to drop off the new lyrics, and used magic to light up sparklers and a candle..." Regina explained what had happened today at lunch in a bit more detail. She wasn't too detailed on the kisses, knowing that her son was more interested in the mystery than the romance.

After she was done, he had a pensive look as he gently tapped his pencil onto his chin.

Before Henry could say anything, Kathryn came running inside. Regina looked up, alert, prompting Kathryn for an explanation.

"They found Bobby and were able to subdue and bring him back to the animal shelter."

Regina nodded. "I should go and see if I can revert him back to a human. Henry, Kathryn will take you home to Emma, and I'll see you both tonight, okay?"

Her son nodded, and Kathryn gave Regina a single nod to show that she understood her instructions. With a gesture from her hands, purple smoke engulfed Regina and took her towards the animal shelter.

"Come on Henry, let's get you home."

The young boy gathered his stuff, shoving it all back into his bag, and went after Kathryn.

* * *

Regina had teleported herself outside the animal shelter, not wanting to intrude by just appearing. She opened the door, hearing a small jingle above her head, and walked inside to where she heard voices.

"We can get Blue to do it..."

"Look, Regina knows how this works better than anyone, it's her curse!"

"Precisely! You're going to endanger the life of one child...er, bear, just like that? Besides, you know his parents won't agree to it."

"Yeah, just like  _you_  wouldn't let Regina heal Emma last night."

The voices were now recognizable, and Regina could distinguish Ruby and David's angry tones. Turning the corner, she saw the two of them with their fists clenched, glaring at the other.

She cleared her throat to signify her presence there, getting both to turn to her.

David sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Ruby smiled and beckoned Regina over, acting as if nothing had happened. "Come on, we should try to turn him back before he wakes up."

Regina noticed that Ruby was sporting some scratch marks, and guessed that she must've been in wolf form to hunt down Bobby, probably got into a scuffle as well.

David trailed after the two women, not saying a word. They reached a treatment room - clearly for bigger animals, seeing the examination table in the middle of the room seemed to be holding the bear quite sturdily. The two parents looked up at seeing the door open, and they did not look pleased at seeing who Ruby and David brought along with them.

Regina decided to take charge before anyone could say anything. She slowly stepped inside, putting her hands up in a placating gesture, and spoke, eyes never wavering from looking at the two parents. "I know that neither of you trust me, nor have high regards for me, but I swear to you I mean no ill will. I just want to help your son. My word may not mean much after all I've done to you by bringing you here with the curse, and from what I've heard, you don't fancy your human forms too much," - Regina could've sworn she saw the Pottage adults give the briefest of smiles, but she still plowed on - "but I know what it is like to worry for your child, seeing them hurt. A few months ago Henry accidentally ate a turnover that was cursed, and there wasn't a moment that I wasn't wishing to change things, or begging for someone to solve this so that I could have my son back.

"At the time I really wouldn't have cared who the help came from, even if it was my worst enemy, and I'm sure you two must be feeling the same way right now. So please, just let me fix this. I ask for no payments, nor for you to trust me indefinitely. Just trust me enough to let me do this."

She waited with baited breath while the two parents looked at each other, clearly communicating silently.

Finally, after a couple of minutes of deliberation, they turned back to Regina.

"Very well, please just give us our son back," Mandy pleaded.

Regina nodded, and got to work.

* * *

"Hey ma!" Henry greeted, entering the apartment and seeing his mom out and about.

"Hey kid! I wasn't expecting you for another couple of hours, everything okay?" She looked up, expecting to see Regina walking in behind him, but frowned at not only not seeing anyone, but also at Henry closing the door behind him.

"Yeah, they found Bobby, so mom went to go see if she can change him back."

Emma nodded. "But you didn't come back home by yourself, right?"

Henry sighed and rolled his eyes with a smile. "No mom, Kathryn brought me home."

"Good. Do you want something to drink or to eat?"

"Orange juice please," Henry said, depositing his backpack beside him as he sat down at the table.

Emma went to pour him some juice. Once she put the cup in front of him, she sat down with her own cup, seeing him poring over a notebook. "Got a lot of homework, or are you just trying to see if staring at something intensely enough can make you memorize it? Because if you are, let me tell you, it doesn't work, believe me - I've tried."

He smiled at her quip, and shook his head. "I'm trying to solve the Serenader mystery."

"Oh? Got any leads, Ace Detective?" Emma asked with a smirk before taking a sip.

"A few...say ma, are you the Serenader?"

Emma choked on juice, eyes wide. "What?"

"You are, aren't you?"

"No kid, I'm not. How in the world could I be the Serenader, I've been running around town the entire time the Serenader's out and about."

"Exactly! It's the perfect cover!" Henry exclaimed triumphantly.

Emma sighed, putting down the cup on the table. "Henry, I've been at the hospital all of last night, how in the world could I have given Regina this morning's gift?"

"With magic!"

She raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Here, Henry faltered. His mom actually seemed legitimately confused about his entire theory. "The Serenader has magic."

"They do?" Emma asked, gaping. "When did this happen?"

"Today at lunch, or so mom said," Henry responded.

"Henry, as you can tell, I don't have magic, and even if I did, I'd need training, lots of training. Magic's only come back for a couple of months..."

The young boy squinted, and then looked back to his list of residents. "You're still a suspect. I'm watching you."

Emma gave a small chuckle. "You go do that, kid."

* * *

A few hours later, Emma was preparing dinner when she heard the door open.

"Hey mom!" Henry greeted from where he was working on his actual homework.

She turned and saw the brunette close the door again, going over to kiss Henry's forehead with a smile. Emma had a silly grin on her face at watching the scene; this felt like home, like family to her. She only hoped that maybe someday they could officially be one. But for now it was a pipe-dream, and with everything that was going on, it'd be the last thing on anyone's mind.

"Emma?" Regina saw that the blonde had a faraway look on her face, paired with a goofy smile, and she approached the kitchen with concern for her.

She shook out of her reverie, and smiled. "Hey Regina, did you manage to turn Bobby back into a human?"

Regina gave a small frown, did she not hear Henry ask that just a few seconds ago? Perhaps Emma was still a bit off from the medications she must've been on while at the hospital. "Yes, he's fine and recuperating, his parents assured Ruby that they'd make sure he wouldn't run away again, but for now they're just happy to have their son back."

"I know the feeling," Emma nodded slowly, looking over to where Henry was once more focused on his work.

"How are you?" Regina asked.

Emma looked confused for the smallest of seconds before shrugging with a smile, going back to check on the food. "Oh you know, going crazy with my house arrest, but I can't complain, Henry's been quite the entertainment."

"Oh?" Regina asked, taking out the cups, plates, and utensils they were going to use.

"Yeah, he's convinced I'm the Serenader, apparently I'm a prime suspect," Emma smirked, leaning against the counter and crossing her arms.

Regina only hummed in response. The mannerisms could certainly work, and well, magic wouldn't be in the farthest realms of possibility for the Saviour.

She was almost ready to ask, of course with a playful tone because heaven forbid that she - and by proxy, Henry - is wrong and Emma gets the wrong idea. But then someone started pounding at the door and her impeding question fell before it reached her lips.

Emma frowned and she looked to the door. "I'll get it."

They weren't expecting anyone, and they had a doorbell, so who could it be? She made her way to the door, and opened it a bit, relaxing once she saw Ruby on the other side. The other woman looked breathless, like she'd just run over here, bent at the waist with hands at her knees as she caught her breath.

She opened the door a bit wider and gave an amused smirk. "Rubes, you know we have a doorbell right?"

Behind her, she heard Regina and Henry make their way closer to the door, curious as to what Ruby was doing here.

Her smile fell as she saw Ruby straighten, actually looking panicked, and she felt lightheaded as she heard Ruby say, "I know it's your day off, and you're still recovering, but you need to come quickly. The Serenader's out and he's gone batshit, smashing cars and starting fires. Did you know he has magic?!"

Behind Emma, Regina's heart plummeted. Barely managing to keep her composure, she asked, "How do you know it's the Serenader?"

"Well he's been yelling at the top of his lungs 'I love you Regina!' wearing a hoodie, but anyway, you've got to come quick. People are outside and are trying to get first blood on the guy," Ruby quickly explained.

"Okay, let me get my jacket and we can get going."

Deep down, she knew this Serenader had been a bad idea since day one. But it made Regina happy so she'd let it run its course. But now it'd come to bite them all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was this chapter!
> 
> Back to cliffhangers muahaha!
> 
> Now, I just want to concretely ask, who do YOU think is the Serenader?
> 
> I'd love to hear theories, so lay them on me! Though at the same time I think I've been giving pretty huge hints so *nudge nudge wink wink*
> 
> I also have absolutely zero idea how many people are in Storybrooke, because it's supposedly NOT that big of a town, but at the same time they are trying to fit an entire land, so I'm guessing it's upwards of a couple thousand people?
> 
> Now, I've been doing it for all my fics thus far, as a big huge THANK YOU to everyone that reads these stories, for all the wonderful reviews and dedicated followers, and just in time for the holidays, I'm going to be doing a double update!
> 
> So in a few days, you'll get your answers!
> 
> Let me know what you think, and your theories!


	11. Lectures and Explanations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Better update this quickly before someone offs with my head!
> 
> And since I updated this pretty quickly, I'm just reminding everything just in case that on Monday I released a chapter so make sure you read that before you read this otherwise some things might not make sense!
> 
> Anyway! Not much to say here, though I did love seeing everyone's reactions, I was having a ball reading them, and all I have to say is: keep in mind what the last chapter's name was!
> 
> Moving on! Enjoy this chapter!

Emma was beyond saying she was tired, or exhausted, or even drained.

She was worn out to the point of wanting to keel over.

It was 4 am, and just now had she, Ruby and the Storybrooke firefighters finally managed to put out all the fires and end the madness on the street.

But she wouldn't be able to head to sleep quite yet.

No, now she had to go to Town Hall, and lecture self-proclaimed vigilantes who had unofficially formed the Anti-Serenader lynch mob. She could hazard a pretty good guess that 90% of this mob's members were also part of the Vitriol group. Anything to do with Regina and her happiness was automatically frowned upon. Combine that with the fact that this Serenader went and lost their mind - after already having a rocky reputation among group Vitriol - was enough to send Emma on a whirlwind downward spiral of madness.

Once she entered the building, she steeled herself for the worst. Throughout the entire night, Emma and Ruby were catching people and taking them to Town Hall as a makeshift holding cell, since the Sheriff's Station was  _really_  not equipped for this. She had managed to wrangle David and Mary Margaret - who had frantically arrived to their aid 20 minutes after the madness started - into being wardens and keeping the caught residents put until everything calmed back down and she could lecture them en masse.

She made her way to the front of the room - seeing her parents decked out in their old world weaponry was somewhat jarring - with Ruby at her side, and she turned to the people seated. She felt like she was having deja vu right now. Just from a quick glance, she could tell that these were almost the same group of people she had lectured more than a month ago. She heaved herself onto the ledge of the stage, and perched there, legs swinging idly.

Her parents and Ruby took their cues that they could sit down as well.

Emma gave a loud sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment before starting, "So, here we are  _again_  folks, me having to lecture this town because you are all so freaking trigger happy that a whacko going to town - literally - destroying property suddenly means it's open season on destroying everything and going apeshit. Really, it's past 4 am, it's supposedly my day off because I'm recuperating from a  _bear_  attack, but who cares, let's burn and smash some shit!"

She wasn't going to mince on the biting sarcasm, she was feeling overwhelmed, and if she could, she'd punt the majority of this room over the town line and let them deal with their issues.

Taking a deep breath, she continued, "I get that this must be frustrating, it's a new land, you're all homesick, and your cursed years felt like a big blur. But block that nostalgia for a minute, and try to consider the fact that this world has so many advancements! Technology, the destruction of the feudal system, the list goes on. You're no longer in the Middle Ages, so start acting like it. Lynch mobs are not acceptable in the 21st century, and with all the destruction you guys wreaked, I'm tempted to haul all of you over the town line.

"But I'm tired, and don't feel like processing a couple hundred people at the ass-crack of dawn. So do me a favour, take some calming tea or something, breathe, and stop trying to take me over the brink of sanity. I mean look at this!" - she spread her arms out towards the crowd gathered - "This is ridiculous, you know that right? You guys should be able to be civilized, or at least try to hold a semblance of a normal life. Not trying to overturn everything because of one thing or another. I'm going to let everyone off with a warning-"

"What about the Serenader?" Always in front of everything - probably organized this whole damn thing, Emma thought savagely - was Leroy. He stood up and met Emma with a glare. Around them, people were murmuring in agreement at Leroy's words.

"What about them?" Emma asked, tilting her head defiantly.

"What are you going to do about him? The maniac's gone crazy!"

Emma leveled Leroy with a look. "You know I could say the same about you guys, right?"

That got everyone to pipe down. Emma sighed and said, "I'm going to get to the bottom of this. They might've gotten away, but rest assured that both Ruby and I will be on this. Now go home, rest, and please try to curb your anarchistic tendencies."

* * *

With all the madness, Regina had been confined to the apartment for her safety, as well as to keep watch over Henry. Emma had given her clear instructions. The minute that she heard anyone trying to get inside the house, she should leave, take Henry with her, and contact Emma.

It was nearly 5 am and Emma still hadn't returned. She'd been gone for more than 7 hours trying to solve this, and Regina couldn't sleep. Apart from worrying for her friend and roommate, she was doing a lot of thinking. How was it possible that the Serenader, in just a couple of hours, had gone completely insane? This couldn't be the same person that she had met after lunch. Either that, or this really had been a ploy, to which case, Regina was ready to never trust anyone in a romantic capacity ever again.

She was thankful that Henry had gone to bed, he looked absolutely crestfallen at hearing that the Serenader seemed to have gone stir crazy, since he had really hoped that they would be his mom's happy ending. Not to mention that it seemingly proved that it wasn't Emma, and it was that fact seemed to be the prime reason for Henry's disappointment.

Regina heard someone outside the door, and she stiffened, not sure what to do. She hoped it was Emma behind the door, and once she heard the door open and a blonde head peek through, she let out the breath she didn't even realize she had been holding.

"Hey, you're still awake?" Emma asked quietly, shutting the door. "I was going to give you a heads up via phone, but didn't want to wake you just in case."

The brunette nodded. "I couldn't sleep."

Emma made her way to the couch that Regina had been sitting at, nursing a cup of coffee, and sat down beside her roommate. "Specific reason or?"

"Plenty of them. How did it go?"

The Sheriff made a face. "Not that great. Ruby and I tried to chase the whack job but he kept eluding us. The guy just disappeared whenever we got too close to him. Also didn't help that we had Leroy trailing after us with Granny's crossbow, I swear that man stole it from her. Anyway, the guy was definitely bonkers, he broke into Andrew's music shop and stole a guitar at one point, started smashing things when we weren't looking."

"He kept reappearing?" Regina asked.

"Yeah, every time he left, we'd try to go back and round off some of the mob, but then the whacko would reappear and start screaming and proclaiming his love for you, setting things on fire or smashing them. It was this huge circular night. Not even Ruby with her wolf-speed could catch this guy. He'd just disappear in a flash of a dark smoke-"

"That's not the Serenader," Regina breathed, ignoring the relief she felt at discovering that fact.

"Yeah, I figured as much. This seems too convenient, plus why would the Serenader be all lovey-dovey one minute, according to Henry's account of what you told him, and then some hours later, be wreaking havoc?"

Regina nodded, and said, "Yes, but also, when the Serenader left today, it was white smoke, not dark, and you can't fake it."

"Gotcha. Yeah it was dark out so I couldn't see the colour per se, but it definitely wasn't white."

"Now what?" Regina asked.

"Well, I left everyone off with a warning, so now I just have to hope they stick to it, and meanwhile find out who in the world is the imposter," Emma yawned. "But first I want to sleep. I feel like I haven't recuperated one bit."

"You should've stayed home while I helped to deal with this," Regina huffed.

"And let you turn into a third target? Not to mention risk your safety on the off-chance the imposter could attack you? No way in hell," Emma stated.

Regina was surprised at Emma's protectiveness, even though she had seen plenty examples of it in the past months. Once more she thought to Henry's theory. Could she still be the Serenader?

* * *

The next day seemed to be fraught with tension. It was like everyone was waiting for some kind of madness to start. Regina went to work in the morning as always, as did Emma, having decided that it wouldn't be conductive for her to take another day off. She had to make sure the Wayward Gang had gotten everything together, because today was the day.

Emma entered the tech shop, letting the ringing bell signify her presence.

"Sheriff, to what do we owe the pleasure?" Logan asked, looking up from the CPU he was working on.

"I need to talk to Maps, is he here?" Emma asked.

"Sure." Surely the speed that the 24-year old was going at to comply with her request was on purpose, just to spite Emma.

A few minutes later, Maps had come out, looking none-too-happy at having been interrupted with whatever he was doing. "Sheriff, I see you've recovered."

"Skip the pleasantries, I'm here on official business."

Maps then opened his eyes wide in a mocking gesture. "Well then, I clearly must've missed the part where official business meant that I couldn't inquire on how our beloved Sheriff was faring. But very well, what do you want?"

Emma didn't even bother to hide her eye roll. Insufferable idiots. "Last night, where were you guys?"

"Taking care of business," Maps responded, shrugging.

"Meaning?" Emma asked, crossing her arms in front of her.

"We were  _here_  busy fixing computers Sheriff, and so we weren't part of last night's action, much to your chagrin. We're sure you'd enjoy having more reasons to have us doing more community service."

"Well, considering you managed to rack up 6 more months to your original punishment of 3, I think you wouldn't be doing yourselves any favours by participating." This bantering was an act, Maps was weary that someone could be listening in, or hovering. So they had decided to code their answers, and maintain their mutual dislike facade, which wasn't at all hard for Emma to do.

"Yes, the travesty of doing more community service this afternoon. It'll be the end of the world," Maps smirked.

Emma sighed. "Yeah yeah, you think this is a joke, I get it. Well if you guys see or hear anything, you know how to get in touch with me."

"Sure thing Sheriff." Maps then looked at her directly in the eye and flashed a small grateful smile. He was thankful for the Sheriff's help, he only hoped it'd be enough to keep his family safe.

* * *

Kathryn had been having a busy morning, thankfully just doing her actual job and not fielding calls, but the paperwork was a blissful reprieve for the circus that Town Hall was turning in to for the past number of weeks.

She heard some footfalls and looked up. She gasped at who she saw. The Serenader. Granted she hadn't ever officially met the figure in front of her, but from the stories, she could bet she was right.

"What do you want?"

The Serenader put their hands up in a placating gesture, staying outside the threshold, not moving an inch closer to her. "Please, I'm not here to hurt you or the Mayor. I just have to talk to her, make this right..."

Kathryn narrowed her eyes in suspicion. The warped voice and unseen visage should've raised plenty of alarms, but Kathryn couldn't find herself correlating last night's mad man with this figure that was trying to appear as non-threatening as possible. After a few moments of silent deliberation, she paged for Regina.

"Yes, Kathryn, what is it?" Regina said.

"Y-you have a visitor," Kathryn responded, voice wavering the slightest bit.

"Is everything alright? You seem nervous."

"Everything's fine, I'm just startled. But I think you should come out here to greet your visitor."

Regina got up from her desk and opened her office door, tense for anything that might happen. She was expecting group Vitriol, but was shocked at seeing the Serenader standing there, their hands up, standing at the entrance of the room.

"You have a lot of nerve coming here after last night." Regina had an inkling that it hadn't truly been the Serenader last night, but she needed to be sure. And for that, she had to pretend to be very angry.

"I actually wanted to clarify, it wasn't me, Mayor Mills. I promise," the Serenader said, not putting their hands down, not moving from the doorway.

"You can put your hands down," Regina started, waiting until the Serenader did so before adding, "And you're not exactly in the best position to be making such statements, especially considering I don't know who you are. I do not enjoy being led on, and I refuse being made into a fool-"

"I know, I know, believe me I know. But my plan was just to try and make you smile. To make you see that you are loved, that not everyone in this town hates you, and to show that I  _really_  like you. I'd never go around doing anything that the imposter did last night. You have to believe me." To punctuate their point, the Serenader flicked their hand and a pink lily appeared in their hand in a puff of white smoke, much like the ones she had received before. Without moving forward, they held it out to her, hoping she'd understand the peace offering for what it was.

Regina looked at her friend, who in turn was looking at her. "Very well, come on inside. Kathryn, a word."

While the Serenader shuffled inside her office, Regina leant close to her friend and said, "If you hear something wrong or if you don't hear from me in 15 minutes, call Emma, okay?"

Kathryn nodded diligently. "Be careful."

"Strangely enough, I think they're harmless."

"You got that feeling too huh? Still, better safe than sorry."

"Indeed."

Closing the door behind her, Regina turned to look at the Serenader, who was standing in the middle of the room, hands in their pockets. "So, you refuse to tell or show me who you are, something which could potentially clear your name, and yet you expect me to take your word just like that?"

"I know it's hard, but I really hope you will believe me."

"And would it be so devastating if I were to know your identity?" Regina asked, coming to stand a few inches away from the dark figure.

"Well like I said, I wouldn't be able to continue doing my serenading..."

"Who said that I wouldn't enjoy receiving gifts nonetheless?" she asked with a bit of a smirk.

Under the hood, the Serenader bit their lip while trying to think of how to word their worry. "It's not that...it's that I'm afraid of...well, your reaction."

Regina took a sharp breath. This was what she had been worried about ever since the Serenader appeared. "You're afraid of me," she surmised matter-of-factly, trying to not let the bile rise in her throat.

The Serenader shook their head vehemently. "No, I could never fear you. I'm just afraid you'll be disappointed, finding out who I am."

Regina wrapped her arms around herself and asked, "What if I'm not though?"

"It's too much of a risk. I promised myself that I will reveal myself to you at the end with the last stanza, and if I somehow chicken out, you have my permission to get the answer from me, but for now, I'm not ready."

She nodded, for that was the only thing she could think of doing, until she figured out how to ask her question, "But what would you lose? Are we close enough that my finding out the truth would destroy some sort of established friendship perhaps? Or something akin to that?"

The Serenader chuckled. "You're fishing for information, Madam Mayor."

"And what if I am?" Regina responded haughtily.

They sighed, and responded her previous query, "Perhaps...I don't really know where we stand."

Regina could only nod once more. She decided to change the subject. "So, do you know who it was that was impersonating you last night?"

"None. But I can hazard a guess they're trying to sully my name...er, pseudonym, and see if they can run me out of town."

"I figured as much. But you're not backing down?"

With a kiss to her cheek, the Serenader handed the lily to Regina. Once the brunette took it, they called up the white smoke.

"Never," the Serenader responded before disappearing.

* * *

Ruby had come in to surprise Emma for lunch, knowing her friend was probably as bone-tired as she was, and not in the mood to function and converse with Storybrooke's citizens. She noticed with a frown that the Station was empty, and wondered if there had been a call or something.

She decided to wait - she was in no hurry to return to the diner and field questions and gossip from the lunchtime patrons, especially with her crankiness - and sat at her unofficial desk. Imagine her surprise when a cloud of white smoke appeared out of nowhere, and brought the source of her lack of sleep and subsequent crankiness right to her.

" _You!_ " Before the Serenader could react, they were pinned against the height chart with their right arm being firmly held horizontally against the wall by Ruby's left hand, and the wolf's right forearm slammed forcefully against the figure's throat.

"Ruby!" the Serenader choked, feet flailing the slightest bit as Ruby's actions had lifted them off the ground vainly trying to use their free left arm to remove pressure from Ruby's arm. "Please..."

Ruby, for her part, had her eyes glowing a ferocious yellow. At the strangled plea, Ruby took a sniff. It couldn't be.

"Emma?" Ruby asked, shocked as she backed off and let go of the black-clad figure in front of her.

The Serenader heaped big gulps of air, leaning against the wall as they regained sufficient oxygen. After a few seconds, they flicked their hands upwards in front of their face, removing the foggy cloud. Lowering the hood released blonde curls.

"Hey. I guess I have a lot of explaining to do huh?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh that's right! Did I totally forget to mention you'd find out who the Serenader was in this chapter?
> 
> Okay, I totally did that on purpose :D
> 
> So yeah! Everyone was spot on with it being Emma, and worry not, Ash Borer doesn't exist in this verse, so no worries for having him even breathe in this story. My apologies for all the red herrings that threw you guys in for a loop!
> 
> Consider this my holiday gift to you!
> 
> I actually hadn't intended to make the Serenader that much of a mystery, I thought it'd be pretty obvious, but then everyone was confused so I just decided to keep going and see where it went.
> 
> But who could the imposter be, hmmmmm...
> 
> I want to wish everyone a wonderful holidays, whatever you may celebrate [or even if you don't celebrate anything, that's totally cool too], and I'll see everyone in the New Year!
> 
> Meanwhile I'll be updating a drabble for Countless Lifetimes followed by Welcome to Storybrooke!
> 
> So let me know what you thought, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter!
> 
> Especially since I put the mystery to rest, but Regina still doesn't know, so I hope everyone will stick around!


	12. Questions and Answers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise!
> 
> Okay so here's the deal:
> 
> First, the wonderful Tempest-2455 over on ff.net and I made kind of a deal? I'm not really sure what to call it... Anyway! Semantics aside, we agreed that she would update her fic Escort Services [which I do recommend people to read 'cause it's pretty entertaining and great, if you haven't alredy] and I would update Such a Heavenly View. And we agreed to do so for Christmas, and here I am!
> 
> Also, this fic is getting so much love! Apparently it was even rec-ed on this under-appreciated SQ fics list! Like whaaat I'm so shocked and surprised and flattered and it's been making me so damn giddy and happy to know that a little plot bunny I got has turned into such a loved fic.
> 
> Anyway! Just last chapter I revealed who the Serenader finally was, so let's get right into it, shall we?

_"Hey. I guess I have a lot of explaining to do huh?"_

"Oh yeah, you have a lot of explaining to do,  _Serenader,_ " Ruby said, crossing her arms in front of her with a smirk.

Emma let out a big sigh and headed over to her desk, opening a drawer and taking out her leather jacket. As she switched that for the hoodie she was wearing, she asked, "Do you want me to start from the beginning or?"

"First, answer me this...you're not the whacko from yesterday, right?"

Emma frowned, and shook her head vehemently. "No! But when I do find them, oh I am going to give them a piece of my mind"

The waitress let out a snort, and sat down on top of her desk. "I brought lunch, so you can explain everything to me over that."

5 minutes later and the two friends were eating lunch, and between bites, Emma explained her story.

"I guess everything started when I found out I had magic a month ago. I got kinda freaked out, and I didn't want to ask Gold, guy still creeps me out, and Regina was already dealing with so much stuff, so I took some books and started trying to teach myself. I found this one cool spell that let me hide my identity with a foggy cover...I'm not too sure how it works exactly, but anyway.

"I then started thinking about how I could make Regina feel better. Her house had just been destroyed, and the entire town hated her, I just wanted to do something. While I was thinking, I was listening to music, and when the song changed, I had an idea. I used my new-found magic to help, I then got myself one of those voice-warper trinkets and voila! The Serenader was born."

"Now it makes sense. You  _like_  her!" Ruby's intonation of the word like left no doubt as to what she was insinuating. Then dramatically, she added, "The protective Serenader coming to Regina's rescue, protecting her from the volatile town!"

Emma playfully shoved at Ruby. "Oh shut up."

"Now why don't you just tell her? Why go through all the mystery?"

"Are you kidding me? Have you seen Regina? She's elegance and grace and she's always so poised and perfect, and then there's me, the fuck-up who is supposed to be a Saviour and -"

"Come on, you live with her! You're roommates and maybe even she considers you a friend," Ruby interrupted with her counter-argument.

"Yeah, 'maybe'. The last thing I want to do is upset that by blurting out that I've got a crush on her. Things are good now, Henry is happy, we're living together."

Ruby raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "But you are planning on telling her eventually?"

Emma let out a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, on the last day."

"And what if she figures it out before then?" Ruby asked.

"Then chances are I'm screwed," Emma responded with a sigh.

"What makes you think that at the end of the song she'll feel any different?"

Emma groaned and rested her head on her desk. Muffled by her arms, she said, "Please don't make me regret doing this, I already have enough doubts and worries that this is one huge mistake."

Ruby let out a laugh and wrapper her arm around Emma. "Relax, I was just teasing you. I'll help cover for you with this whole mission."

"You will?" Emma asked, looking up with a smile.

"Yeah! Though I won't be able to help you much with Henry. He's a determined little detective, let me tell you."

Emma grinned, "Don't I know it."

* * *

After the Serenader left, Regina went back outside to Kathryn's desk to give her the all clear.

"How was it?" Kathryn asked.

Regina pulled up one of the chairs from the visitor lounge and sat beside her friend with a sigh. "I don't know. I want to believe them... Am I crazy for wanting to believe them?"

Kathryn let out a rich laugh. "You are so in love."

"I am not!" Regina responded. "I just...enjoy their shows of affection, it's...nice."

Her friend just gave her a look that called her out as spewing bullshit. "Really? That's what you're going to go with?"

"I don't want to give myself in to the possibility of falling for someone who may trick me. Yesterday night's debacle only proved that I don't know who they are. They could be a dangerous or sadistic individual. For all we know maybe they were in love with me during the curse and are trying to work it out of their system."

"Oh come on Regina. I think it's sweet that they're trying to do this for you. Besides, if they were trying to trick you, why would they keep taking time out of their day to talk to you? Like on Monday with the flowers, or today to apologize. Those weren't part of the plan, not to mention that they've been kissing you and sending you sweet gestures. I think they're legitimately head over heels for you."

Regina sighed. "Well apparently I'll get to find out whoever it is at the end of the song."

Kathryn thought about it for a minute then smiled. "Well they are about halfway done! And we still have to find out what today's messages are."

"That is true," Regina responded with a smile.

* * *

"Hey ma!" Henry grinned, going to greet her as he did every day when she went to pick him up from school.

She gave him a hug and asked her standard question, "How was school?"

"Pretty good, we played baseball in gym!" Henry started to delve into the play-by-play of the game, walking towards Town Hall.

As they passed by Game of Thorns, he stopped.

"Come on!" Henry then went inside the shop.

Frowning, Emma followed Henry, finding him in deep conversation with Moe, the owner.

"Has anyone made any strange orders recently?" Henry was asking.

Moe chuckled. "Depends how you categorize strange. Flower orders can get very specific and curious. Good afternoon Sheriff," Moe added, smiling at Emma.

"Hey Emma!" Belle greeted, waving at her.

She waved back at Belle, who was helping her father while renovations were being made to the library.

Henry meanwhile was saying, "Has anyone anonymously bought flowers? Specifically, lilies?"

"Oh, yes! We've had a written order mailed to us for lillies. A few days ago the order was for one lily..."

"And how do they pick it up?"

Moe just shrugged. "Haven't a clue! We're just told to leave it in the back, where we get deliveries, and then someone picks them up! They leave the money there, and that's the end of the story!"

Henry was pondering for a moment before he asked, "Do you have any security cameras?"

"Of course not! We're a flower shop, not a bank. What is this about?" Moe asked.

"I'm trying to find the Serenader!" Henry responded proudly.

"The nutjob who destroyed Main Street yesterday night?" Moe asked with a frown, glancing at Emma.

She decided she had to step in. "Not exactly. That was an imposter, Henry wants to find the real one."

Henry grinned and added, "I will find them somehow!"

* * *

Gold looked up as the bell rang. He planted a well-practised smirk on his face as he said, "I was wondering when I'd be seeing you, old friend."

"I know it's been a while, but I don't believe that my memory has failed me so that I forgot we had become friends?" the figure by the doorway responded.

"Well unless you want our beloved Sheriff to receive an anonymous tip regarding some very valuable information, and have your plan destroyed, I think we're in the beginnings of a flourishing friendship, wouldn't you say?"

A chuckle. "Very well, and what would our  _friendship_  warrant you?"

"Immunity. For me and Belle. I know what you plan to do, and I wish no part in it."

"A done deal, if you'll lend me a few trinkets and oddities."

Gold smirked, "Well I had figured you wouldn't have come here just to browse."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was this update!
> 
> A little bit short perhaps, but next chapter we'll have things continuing to move along.
> 
> Now truly and finally the last update of the year...probably.
> 
> So, as for the resident bad guys here, as you can tell, the head honcho knows Rumple. But! They're not an OUAT character, though they are a fairytale villain. A very obscure one at that, from what I understand...
> 
> Anyway! I leave you with that for now, I'll be back in the New Year with more!
> 
> I'd love to know your thoughts!
> 
> Meanwhile I'll be updating Things We've Lost, as well as a Thief in the Night! But first, I've got a Christmas drabble I need to finish...
> 
> Hope your holidays are faring better than mine!


	13. Gambles and Plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, 13 chapters!
> 
> And can I just say that I keep turning into a giddy pile of butterflies every time I see the stats for the story and keep seeing how many people are loving this story?
> 
> It really is beyond impressive for me to see and I can't thank everyone enough!
> 
> Anyway, moving on! I'm sorry that it took a while for updates, but I was doing some stuff for SQW, so if you want to check those out, you're totally welcome to!
> 
> Plus I was refreshing all that had been going on, as well as doing my continuous spelling and grammar check.
> 
> But enough about everything else, let's get right into the story! Also, I hope that it doesn't get too confusing later on...

The rest of the afternoon had been going relatively calm, which was saying something considering that the town was still working out their pent up anger from yesterday night's Serenader madness.

Which was why, at 6 pm, Regina was thankful she could head home, after a day sans incidents. With Henry in tow, she and Kathryn closed up their offices, and they walked out to the slowly darkening sky.

"Mom, look!"

She turned around, then promptly and unabashedly gaped. "Fireflies," she breathed.

Dozens of fireflies were around them, lighting up the air, looking like miniature floating lanterns, or stars.

Kathryn chuckled at her friend's reaction. She nudged Regina gently, getting her friend to look at her. "Let me know how it goes, yeah?"

Regina nodded, too dumbfounded to say anything else. She vaguely heard Kathryn say bye to Henry, but her thoughts were monopolized by the stock card currently floating her way, being held by fireflies. Once it was within arm's length, she plucked it and read it, feeling her heart soar.

"What does it say?" Henry asked. Regina held it out to him with a smile.

_**'Cause you get lighter the more it gets dark** _

Henry read the card and returned it, grinning at his mom. They walked to the car, the fireflies following them at a distance. "How did they do this?"

"A spell. It's actually quite simple, though it's usually meant to provide light." Regina was impressed with the ingenuity the Serenader possessed. She just hoped that they weren't exerting themself, since it was quite a taxing spell.

The fireflies stayed outside of the car, but while they drove home, the air was filled with them.

"This is so cool!" Henry exclaimed, ooh-ing and ahh-ing the rest of the way. He was fascinated. And if Regina had to be honest, so was she.

Soon enough they reached the apartment, and here the air seemed to be filled with even more fireflies. As they walked up the steps, they suddenly saw the Serenader, standing there, hands behind their back. She stopped, as did Henry. She quickly tried to assess if this was the real Serenader, or the fake one. She wouldn't put Henry in harm's way.

The Serenader seemed to understand, holding their hands out, not moving forward, they stated, "I mean no harm, I promise."

Cautiously, Regina approached them, her arm guiding Henry to follow behind her to the side, using herself as a shield should anything go wrong, or should the Serenader be a fraud. But she needn't have worried.

The Serenader crouched until they were eye-level with Henry, and said, "I've been hearing you're trying to discover my identity."

Henry peeked out from behind his mom's arm, and nodded. The Serenader chuckled and said, "Well I have no doubt that you will figure it out."

The 11-year old beamed at the encouragement. "I will, just watch!"

The figure chuckled at Henry's promise. Standing up, the Serenader held out their hands together in front of them. White smoke appeared and then dissolved to show a plush heart now resting on the previously empty palms. "For you."

Regina took it with a smile, seeing that once more words were stitched onto the fabric.

_**** _

_**I'm gonna give you my heart** _

Before anything else could be said, they heard a piercing exclamation.

"It's the Serenader! Catch him!"

A group of people had arrived, and they were looking pretty angry. Whale, who had been the one to exclaim the order, was at the front. There were torches and pitchforks, as well as what looked like swords. Clearly these people were going to attack, old school style.

Regina's first priority was protecting Henry, so she grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the incoming mob. She thought about teleporting a second too late. She turned back to see if the Serenader was behind her, but they had their own plan, and started running away from the angry group towards the town.

"Come on mom! We have to make sure they don't hurt the Serenader!" Henry exclaimed, pulling on her sleeve to where the mob was headed.

"Henry, I won't put you in danger. We will just have to hope for the best," Regina bit her lip as she watched the group disappear in the distance. She wanted nothing more to help the Serenader.

"We can watch from a distance! I won't run off mom. I promise. But we can't just leave them!"

* * *

Ruby was in the middle of her least favourite task/chore as a waitress. Taking out the garbage and depositing it in the back dumpster was never fun, but she couldn't exactly go against Granny's orders. The crossbow bolts were sharp enough as it was just by looking at them, and although she was sure Granny wouldn't actually fire at her, she still didn't want to take chances. At least after this she could head home for a quick nap before she had to take her shift at the Station.

Hearing a loud noise further into the alley, Ruby quickly made her way and saw some broken crates, in the middle was a figure in black. Emma. "Do I even want to know?" she asked with a smirk, holding out a hand to help her friend.

Emma grumbled as she stood up, gratefully taking Ruby's helping hand. "Freaking whackos trying to kill the Serenader are all over town, I can't go back home because Regina and Henry are there, and as you can see, my poofing to the Station didn't exactly work out," she responded, voice warped from her disguise. In the background, the rousing yells of action were getting louder. "I'm accepting ideas."

Ruby thought quickly. "I've got one."

* * *

The mob running down Main Street all braked as they saw the Serenader run out of an alleyway behind Granny's diner with the Sheriff quickly in pursuit. She quickly tackled the figure and wrestled with them until their hands were cuffed in front of them.

Standing up, with one hand firmly on the Serenader's upper arm, she glared at the mob. "You guys better be headed to a medieval weapons exhibit, unless you want to join this one right here and get processed?"

Murmured denials were heard, some people turning right back around and heading out from whence they came, leaving Emma and the Serenader alone.

Emma thought she was in the clear, until her parents showed up.

"Emma! What is...is that the Serenader?!" Mary Margaret asked, shocked.

Emma was wildly trying to think of how she was going to get out of this. "Uh yeah, I was just going to take them to the Station-"

"Are you going to interrogate him?" David piped up, looking ready to take it upon himself to do the deed should Emma say no.

For the two women, this was currently getting out of hand. Ruby had decided that the best way to get away was to do it in plain sight, so in other words, have Emma escort the Serenader - who was really Ruby in disguise - away, thereby simultaneously take suspicion away from Emma being the Serenader and protect the Serenader from any attacks - for no one would try and attack them if Emma was there - and a few minutes ago it seemed like the perfect plan, but now it was beginning to tumble into something more.

"Uh yeah..." Emma responded, trying to sound more certain than she felt.

"Great we'll accompany you." The Charmings left no room to argue.

"Oh this'll be fun," the Serenader snarked, and Emma discreetly poked her friend for that quip.

"Ma!" Just great, as if things couldn't get more complicated, Henry and Regina were rushing towards them.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?" Emma asked, looking at each of the newcomers in turn, trying to steel her nerves.

Regina answered, "The Serenader was with me when Whale began to lead a charge to chase them down, we were curious to know if they were okay."

Emma raised the arm that was still in her hold. "In one piece."

Henry meanwhile was very pensive. "What happens now?"

"I'll be asking the Serenader some questions, so everyone can head home now," Emma said, hoping she could leave with Ruby, alone.

But David insisted once again, "We're going with you. We don't trust this guy being alone with you."

The Serenader just snickered, and Emma had to fight the urge to roll her eyes and poke her friend again. "I'll be fine."

"Emma, we'd feel safer if you had company," Mary Margaret said, determined.

Regina decided to pipe up then. "I will be on hand if you wish. I'd like to attend this questioning as well."

"Oh you are  _not_  coming with us. You might do something with the Serenader, or set him free," David stated, crossing his arms in front of him and glaring at Regina.

"Hey!" Henry, Emma, and the Serenader exclaimed at once, angry at David.

Regina's eyes widened, seeing three people come to her defense immediately. It warmed her to think that they thought highly of her.

"Alright you know what, fine, come one come all," Emma started, sighing as she knew she wasn't going to get away without having some company. "Just let me do my job."

* * *

After everyone entered the Station, they went to wait in the bullpen while Emma went to put the Serenader in one of the interview rooms. She had a plan that she hoped would work. She locked the door behind her, and also made sure the observation room's door was locked as well.

"Okay, a few ground rules. I will allow only one other person with me. The rest of you will wait in the observation room. So you guys can decide who it is, and compile a list of questions you have. I have my own questions, and I'm guessing you guys didn't just come to watch."

David spoke up, "How do we know if he's telling the truth?"

Regina answered that question. "I can provide a truth serum."

Mary Margaret gave an incredulous look. "And how can we know it really is a truth serum? What if you're just-"

"How about you just don't finish that sentence, Mary Margaret?" Emma decided it was best to interrupt her before things got out of hand. "I'm gonna head to the bathroom for a quick minute and then we'll get started. You guys decide things peacefully, otherwise I'm kicking everyone out and I'll do this alone."

David asked, "Should we wait inside the observation room?"

Emma shook her head. "Just hang out here for a quick minute."

Quickly, Emma made her way to the bathroom, locking the door behind her. Calling up her magic, and pleading for it to work, she poofed herself inside the interrogation room.

Before Ruby could say anything, Emma grabbed her arm and within a second, teleported them both back to the bathroom.

Unfortunately, their landing wasn't so smooth, and they tumbled to the ground.

"Care to explain what the plan is? I am not going to be able to answer anything as the Serenader," Ruby asked, standing up.

Emma stood up as well and began to explain as she removed the magic surrounding Ruby. "Which is why you're not. You're going to be Sheriff."

Ruby's eyes bugged out as she lowered the hood, looking at her friend. "You can do that?"

Emma grimaced a little bit. "I'm confident I can. I mean, it was in one of the magic books I grabbed, so it's not an advanced technique, but the spell is more to use on myself than someone else."

"Okay, let's do it," Ruby said. They quickly exchanged clothing, while Emma explained the situation with their unexpected guests so that Ruby would have context and wouldn't bring suspicion to herself. Once they were done Emma got to work with her magic.

Ruby went to check herself in the mirror after Emma was done, and made an impressed face. "Nice. You're getting the hang of this magic thing." Even her voice sounded like Emma.

Emma grinned, pulling the hood up. "Thanks. Now it's showtime."

* * *

Everyone looked up when Emma walked up to them. "So, did you guys decide?"

Regina walked to Emma and held out a vial. "The truth serum."

David meanwhile stood up from where he had been perched, leaning against an empty desk. "Yes. I will be going inside with you."

"Really? You guys managed to decide so quickly?"

It was more that Regina was really not in the mood for another argument with the Charmings. She would just settle with being able to watch.

Mary Margaret nodded. "Yeah, now come on, before the Serenader gets away."

"Okay, let me just grab a cup so that the Serenader can drink that serum, and we'll get going." She plucked a paper cup from nearby the water cooler. Then the entire troupe walked to the interview rooms. Opening the observation room door, Mary Margaret, Regina, and Henry went inside. Then, David and Emma headed into the interview room, closing the door behind them.

"The Sheriff and Prince Charming huh? Who's good cop and who's bad cop?" asked the Serenader.

David could just note the smirk in the voice. "You're going to be drinking a truth serum to answer our questions, so you'll answer them honestly. Understood?"

The Serenader nodded. "I can see who bad cop is going to be."

They waited as Emma poured the contents of the vial onto the paper cup, and then pushed it further towards the Serenader. With their hands bound together in front of them, the Serenader reached forward to clasp the cup with both hands before downing the entire cup's contents.

"How do we know you really drank it?" David asked, arms crossed in front of him, still standing, even though Emma had already taken a seat on the other side of the table.

"I guess you just have to trust me."

David wasn't really taking that as an answer and slammed his hands on the table. "Well I don't trust you. Either you're under some very powerful spells, or you're crazy for falling in love with  _her_ ," David jerked his thumb behind him towards the observation room, hidden by the one-way mirror.

Emma turned to glare at the man beside her. "David, back off, otherwise I'm removing you from this questioning. So sit down, and let me do my job."

He acquiesced, sitting down with a huff on the empty chair beside the blonde.

The Serenader said, "For your information, I'm not under anything apart from this truth serum."

"Then you won't mind telling us what your name is," David retorted.

"Serenader," the figure riposted. At the glare from him, they amended, "A pseudonym is still a name, in a way."

"Funny, but I want the name you were born with."

"David..." Emma said, threateningly.

"You do know this is a truth serum, not an 'answer your every whimsical question' potion, right? I'm unable to lie, I'm not forced have a verbal diarrhea responding to all questions headed my way," the Serenader quickly responded.

"Okay!" Emma slammed her hands on the table, standing up. "David, leave, now."

"But-"

" _Now_. I'm here to conduct an investigation, not having you spew your comments." Emma turned to the mirror, knowing they could hear her. "Regina, you're gonna be joining me."

A few minutes later and the mood had shifted. Regina had entered the room silently, barely making eye contact with the Serenader. She didn't feel comfortable showing affection knowing that the Charmings were behind her in the next room.

The Serenader seemed to note Regina's attitude, and asked, "Hey, you okay?"

Regina gave them a weak smile and merely nodded.

Then the questioning started. "So, Serenader, first things first, were you involved in last night's attack?"

"No. I was doing my own business and had nothing to do with that imposter."

Emma wrote a note in her casebook. "Great, do you know who is behind it?"

The Serenader shook their head. "Nope, all I know is that they have magic."

"As do you, from what I understand?" Emma - Ruby in actuality - had to pretend like this was a standard procedure, and hope that by the end of it, they would be able to let the Serenader go.

Regina noted then that the room was fraught with magic. It was like it permeated the room, even Emma beside her was radiating of magic. She once more thought of Henry's theory, but Emma was right beside her. "Serenader, how good is you magic?"

The Serenader turned to look at Regina. "Advancing, I suppose."

Perhaps, if it was Emma, they had a helper, who was under the hood right now, who would be revealed via their lack of magic. "Show me."

"W-what do you want me to show?" A thumping was heard from the next room, presumably the Charmings trying to warn them against doing magic.

Ruby decided that it wouldn't do to have Emma exert herself as she was. It was bad enough that she was keeping her own magic currently, but also Ruby's own glamour. "How about we leave that for another moment. Next question, why are you doing this?"

"Like I've told Mayor Mills, I like her, and I want to show it to her."

The Sheriff already knew all of this, this was more for the Charmings' sake. "I see, and you just won't tell Regina this because..."

"I'm shy. Which is ironic considering my very vocal alternative, I know." The Serenader gave a chuckle at that, which made Regina smile.

Emma hummed in agreement. "It is ironic, you got that right. So how much longer is this going to last?"

The Serenader thought for a moment. "I have 7 stanzas left, and I won't be doing anything during the weekend, so maybe, sometime halfway next week?"

Regina hadn't thought it'd be that soon. Now she was excited at the prospect of finding out the truth in less than a week.

Seeing the cogs in Regina's head working, the Serenader made a single lily appear, and held it out for Regina. "For you."

"Thank you," Regina said breathlessly, taking the flower. So that really was the Serenader, which meant that, either it wasn't Emma beside her, or Henry was mistaken and the Serenader was someone else entirely. Although she'd deny it vehemently, she desperately hoped that it was the former.

Ruby meanwhile could tell that the magic surrounding her had weakened just the slightest bit. Emma was running out of steam keeping everything up. "Continuing. Your gender?"

"Female." Well, that cleared that up for Regina. She hadn't really paused to think about the Serenader's gender, always referring to her as a them, but she should've guessed, after all, her kisses with the Serenader were certainly indicative that they were with a woman, but she really hadn't been paying attention as much as she should've. Maybe there were more hints that she was missing.

Emma meanwhile was continuing her investigation. "Alright, age?"

"You're kidding me, right? I'm not going to tell you my age!" responded the Serenader with an indignant huff.

"It's more to know if you're an adult or not."

"Fine, I'm an adult, around everyone's age that lives in this town."

The real Emma was finding it hard to keep track of her magic. She felt like she was going to collapse from the energy she was spending. She was already tired from the fireflies, but to do all of this, it was taking a toll on her. Plus Regina kept glaring at her as if she was trying to see under the cover. Emma was sure that if she wanted, Regina could undo this entire charade with one hand move. This was a high-risk gamble.

"Okay, let's talk crime. Breaking and entering, shopping after hours, damage to town citizens," the Sheriff started rattling off.

The Serenader chuckled. "To break and enter, I'd have to have actually broken something, which I didn't. I just poofed in and out of Mayor Mills' office. Regarding the damage to citizens, I can't be blamed for dwarfs who don't know how gravity functions. As for my shopping, it's not my fault the pharmacy doesn't offer alternate methods of shopping. I've paid for everything I've acquired, even have receipts if you don't believe me. I've got a good partnership going with Game of Thorns, so you can ask Moe about me paying for everything."

"So I've heard," Emma dryly responded.

But Regina had another point to add. "You also trespassed into the apartment I'm residing in."

The Serenader couldn't exactly say it was her apartment too, or hell, that technically the apartment belonged to her only. "I don't think that if I kept leaving my gifts in the middle of the town, it'd be intact by the time you found it."

Regina was dealing with a fine balance. On one hand, she was worried about what the Serenader in her home could mean for Henry's safety, or even Emma's. On the other hand, this was innocent, as far as she understood.

The figure cleared her throat. "So, can I leave now? I think we've established that I haven't really done any crimes pertaining to the laws of this country, unless you think 'magically poofing in and out of places in a magical town that doesn't show up in any map because essentially it doesn't exist since it's the byproduct of a fairytale story' can hold up in court."

She had them there. "Very well, just make sure you stay out of trouble."

Emma unlocked the cuffs and the Serenader flexed her wrists, standing up. "Can't promise that, but I'll try. You might want to make the rest of this town's denizens take that vow though, it might help."

Regina, who had been quiet for the past minute, just had one more question. "One final thing."

"Yeah, what is it?" asked the Serenader.

She made her way around the table, so they were standing in front of one another, nearly no space between them. "Is this all real? Your gifts, you caring about me; you truly do like me and want to see me happy?"

A nod. "Of course it is. I promise you, there is no trickery of any kind happening here. Just me, falling for you. I care about you, Regina Mills, please believe me."

And Regina did. Her fear of PDA in front of the Charmings be damned, she practically leapt into the Serenader's arms, kissing her on the lips. This felt so right, although a nagging thought in the back of her mind was trying to come up with theories as to how she could be kissing Emma even though Emma was just a few feet away. Perhaps it should bother her that she wanted the Saviour to somehow be the one that was behind all of this, but a small part of her not buried by her denial was desperately wishing it was the case.

As they broke apart, the Serenader turned to the Sheriff. "Any chance I can use the bathroom real quick?"

"Yeah, come on, I'll show you where it is."

The Serenader turned back to Regina. "I'll be seeing you soon," she said, punctuating it with a kiss on the cheek before following Emma out of the room.

Unbeknownst to the duo, they were being followed as they made their way to the bathroom.

"Emma!"

Force of habit can be a funny thing. For the real Emma Swan, it had just given her away when she was the one to turn around at hearing her name, and not Ruby, who was currently being her.

"I knew it!" Henry came up and hugged the Serenader. The three of them were far away enough that no one else also found out. Ruby stopped at hearing Henry, and turned, watching the touching scene from a distance.

Emma gingerly put a hand on Henry's shoulders and drew him closer. "You figured it out alright," she said with a chuckle. "Now come on, we gotta go change."

Henry broke away from the hug with a puzzled look, and Emma explained what she and Ruby were doing. He waited outside the bathroom, and then smiled as Emma came out alone.

"You took Ruby home?"

Emma made a 'kinda' face. "My magic's not exactly doing so hot right now, I got her outside the station, and poofed back here."

The young boy couldn't look more happy with the turn of events. "Thanks for doing this for mom."

She knelt in front of him, much like she had a few hours ago as the Serenader. "Of course, I care about her. I'm just not too sure she'd like if it was me."

"Of course she would! I'm pretty sure she  _wants_  it to be you."

Emma chuckled. "I wish kid. But just promise me that you'll keep this quiet to her?"

Henry nodded. "As long as I can help you."

"Deal," Emma agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quite a bit of moving around for Emma, huh?
> 
> Anyway, I hoped everyone enjoyed this chapter! More Serenader antics, and like the Serenader said, we only have 7 more stanzas to go!
> 
> I have been wanting to write this interrogation scene since I first got the idea for this fic, so I'm glad I was finally able to get it out! Like I said in the beginning AN, I hope it wasn't too confusing when I was talking about Ruby!Emma and Emma as the Serenader.
> 
> And Henry knows! He's an ingenious little bugger, huh?
> 
> Next chapter we'll be having more of a focus on the other mystery, with our resident bad guy who everyone is very interested in finding out, and what happened with the Wayward Gang and their delivery to the cannery.
> 
> As for my other fics, I'll be writing a drabble and then updating A Thief in the Night, followed by Equals!
> 
> Let me know what your thoughts were!


	14. Plan of Action

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm terribly sorry about the delay everyone!
> 
> Life has been a bit tough for me lately [I shan't bore or sadden you with the details] so updates have been slower for me.
> 
> But here's the deal: SaHV tied for second place over at the SQ Fan Awards on tumblr, and I've been absolutely shocked and floored and baffled at having it even get nominated, let alone have people vote to get it in 2nd place!
> 
> So as a token of appreciation and me saying a big huge THANK YOU! to everyone, you're gonna be getting a double update!
> 
> Let's get started!

Regina looked up from the book she was reading, seeing Emma heading to the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee. She bookmarked the page she was on before closing the book and setting it down on her lap. "Are you going somewhere?"

Emma turned and looked down at herself, still dressed in the clothes she was wearing earlier. "Yeah, going to meet Ruby for recon later. She's staking out the Cannery warehouse to see if the bad guys show."

"Is it safe?" Regina asked, having earlier seen the gun in Emma's backside holster.

"Yeah, we're just going to observe."

Regina didn't look convinced as she asked, "But you're going to be taking a gun?"

Emma merely shrugged. "It's a precaution, just in case things get hairy. So, that was an intense meeting, huh?"

The quick subject change made Regina wonder if Emma knew that if they kept talking, Regina would worry about Emma to the point of possibly trying to get her out of going. The protective streak even surprised Regina, but ever since the Sheriff had stood up for her of her volition and become her shield against the town, she felt the immense urge to return the favour, while vehemently denying that she was doing such a thing out of care. "Indeed, it was."

Leaving the coffee machine to brew her drink, Emma made her way over to Regina, crossing her arms in front of her. "Okay, that was the bullshit politician's answer. Now I want the authentic Regina answer."

Regina tilted her head ever so slightly to look curiously over at Emma. "I don't know what else to say. All this time I was cautiously optimistic that maybe this wasn't a prank, that someone might actually like me, but always pulling back because deep down I was convinced that this was all a joke and then everyone would jump out and laugh at how stupid I had been to fall for it. To have a confirmation that this is all very real feels so surreal, it's taking me a moment to process it."

Emma sat down on the couch, and faced her roommate. "Well if you're the type of person that processes things better by talking out loud, I'm all ears."

"How soon do you have to be there?" Regina asked, glancing at the clock.

"Midnight." They had a little over 15 minutes to talk. Emma went to grab her coffee and returned, looking expectantly at Regina.

And so Regina began to haltingly voice her thoughts. "Do you think it's possible? I mean, you've seen how much hatred this town spews at me, and...sometimes I'm certain I even deserve it. But seeing the Serenader, seeing that someone _loves_  me, despite everything, seems like a dream. And then there's the few of you who support and defend me, and I'm just baffled that anyone would be on my side."

"Because you think we all hate you?" Emma asks, actively considering revealing herself if only to comfort Regina - even if it ended up biting her afterwards - but decided against it. Now was not the time.

Regina nodded. "I'm the Evil Queen. I've screwed everyone in this town over, or at the very least, terrorized them. I shouldn't be worth anything to anyone, and yet I've got a handful of people ready to defend me tooth and nail, for some inexplicable reason."

Emma drank a bit of her coffee, before setting the mug down. She shifted so her entire body was angling towards Regina's, reached out to clasp each of Regina's hands into her own, and started, "Believe it or not, I get it. Maybe not the screwing people over and terrorizing, but I get the insecurity. Being in the foster system taught me that I wasn't wanted. And I'm not saying this to add guilt. Like I said before, I don't blame you for it, okay?" When Regina nodded yes, after shutting her mouth, having been ready to spew a heartfelt apology, Emma continued, "And having now found my parents, I should be ecstatic and jumping into their awaiting arms. It's what makes sense. But I'm not. Not yet. It takes time for people to accept something new after having had the exact opposite be my reality. I can't just all of a sudden ignore or forget the hurt I felt for the past 28 years, no matter how well I buried it. But I will, eventually. I know that one day, I'll forgive them. Maybe even refer to them as mom and dad, and not just in the heat of the moment.

"What I'm trying to say Regina, is that the people of this town need time. Right now when they see you, they think of the Evil Queen. They think that Regina Mills is all an act, and maybe at first it was, but you've grown as a person. You're not the woman that was adamant to kick me out of town even if you had to drag me to the townline yourself."

Regina gave a small chuckle for the quip, while looking intently at the blonde. She suddenly had the indescribable urge to kiss Emma. But she tamped it down. "So you think the town will eventually forgive me?"

"I know it. Look, once the town finally chooses to see that you mean them no harm, they'll open up to you more. And all of us, your friends, will be there to support you," Emma concluded it with a bright smile, as if that would help to prove her point.

"I can't believe I just listened to a hope speech from a Charming without wanting to incinerate something," Regina mock-groaned, rolling her eyes. "And here I was hoping it had skipped a generation."

Emma just grinned, satisfied. "Nope, doesn't look like it. Anyway, I should probably head over to the Cannery so I don't miss any of the action."

Regina watched as Emma gulped down the rest of her coffee, and then headed to the kitchen to put the mug in the sink. Once Emma returned, Regina stood up as well, and blurted, "Thank you."

Emma whipped around with a curious frown. "What for?"

"The hope speech," Regina responded, before adding, "But if you repeat that to anyone, I will destroy you, if it's the last thing I do."

That merely got Emma to laugh. "Whatever you say, your Majesty."

* * *

"So, anything?"

Ruby Lucas thought of herself as a very accomplished individual. She was a freaking werewolf, so nothing should spook her. But at that moment, she was scared shitless. "Holy shit Em! Give a girl a warning next time, unless you're really looking to lead a solo police force."

Emma sat down on the chair beside where Ruby was sitting, chuckling. "Oh come on, don't tell me that I actually scared the big bad wolf?"

"You didn't," Ruby responded, gritting her teeth. "Just announce your presence next time."

"Oh sure, I'll make sure to bring the royal court fanfares and a town crier. Maybe I'll even send a mass text message to the entire town, since that totally doesn't defeat the purpose of a  **recon**  mission," Emma riposted.

Ruby playfully shoved Emma's shoulder. "You know what I mean."

Emma rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Going back to my previous question, has there been any movement?"

"Nope, and this is the best vantage point of the roadway to the Cannery, so if someone comes for it, we'll see them."

They were silent for a few moments, staring intently at the warehouse, and the empty road. A lone streetlight and some sparse floodlights at the warehouse's walls were providing the only light that allowed Emma to see anything, though barely. Ruby was more comfortable, her werewolf senses allowing her to see even with the scarce lighting. They were perched on a few lawn chairs that Ruby had dragged over from the Fish and Chips shack by the Marina, and hidden in a small park, under the cover of trees.

"So, how's Regina handling the aftermath of the interrogation?" Ruby asked, breaking the silence.

Emma knew that some of the things Regina said were done so in confidence, and she wouldn't betray it, even if it was just Ruby. "She's taking a while to process things, after all, with most of the town at her heels, she's kinda got her plate full."

Ruby hummed in understanding, and didn't press the issue. "So now that you've got Henry on board, does that change any of your plans?"

"Well now at least I won't have to keep hiding from him, but nah, things are still going according to plan."

Suddenly, Ruby perked up. "Someone's coming."

They dove away from their chairs and crawled closer to the bushes that kept them hidden. Sure enough, a car was approaching. The driver took the car close to one of the side doors, where the light was poorest, and three people piled out of the car, the driver staying inside and keeping the engine running.

"Is that..." Emma started, squinting towards the car and hoping to see something.

"It's the Wayward Gang. What do you think they're up to?"

Emma thought about it for a minute. "Well whatever they're up to, they have a plan. Either they're doing someone's dirty work, or they're screwing with us. For their sakes, I hope it's the former."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Ruby was seriously considering just jumping out of their hiding spot and confronting the little whelps, but they're just doing recon right now.

"Well, that car isn't big enough to carry the heavy stuff like the trunks, so they'll have to come back for it. That's when we'll strike." So they decided they would split up. Ruby would follow the car to its destination, see where they dropped everything off, while Emma would stay behind, just in case it was a diversion. Once they returned to the car, Ruby would follow them back and they'd confront them.

While they waited for the 3 members to come back, Emma mused out loud, "It's weird, you'd think all 5 of them were here, but with Trevor at the wheel, that only makes 4 of them."

"Maybe they left someone to take care of Timmy?" Ruby theorizes.

"Yeah, maybe, but the kid would be asleep by now. He doesn't need a babysitter."

Ruby tore her eyes away for a second to look at Emma. "What are you thinking?"

"Our actual bad guys, the creepy dude who can take hearts, might have gone over tonight to their loft, and demanded them to move the goods since he saw that everything was delivered. He threatened Timmy again, and this time, they decided to leave someone with him, just in case."

The brunette hummed. "So what should we do?"

"We'll see what happens and move accordingly. Here they come."

Ruby had decided that the best course of action to have the speed to keep up with the car, while also preventing from being seen, would be to turn into a wolf, and keep up from a distance. So she turned, and set off after the car.

Emma meanwhile would wait. After she was done with this she would go prepare stuff for tomorrow, and get the lyrics out. It was a particularly bold move against Group Vitriol she was planning on, but oh so worth it. Then at least, she could relax during the weekend, help Regina with her house, and then get ready for the final sections. And eventually, the big reveal.

Suddenly, she saw something that made her get up and move closer to the warehouse. It looked like smoke had been coming out of the Cannery and dissipating. But it wasn't just any smoke. This was magic.

Wrenching the door open, Emma came to an abrupt halt.

"What the hell?" echoed through the very empty warehouse.

* * *

Ruby gave a small huff, glad that they had apparently reached their destination. The wolf quietly got closer, and frowned. They were at Mr. Nelson's house. Finding a nearby hidden alcove, she transformed back and whipped out her phone.

Emma answered right away. "Finally! I've been trying to call you for 5 minutes-"

"Emma, they're at Mr. Nelson's house, you've got to hurry!" Ruby hung up before Emma could say anything, and turned back into a wolf, nearing the car.

Crouching low, Ruby slowly made her way closer, mindful to not step on any branches that would alert them of her presence.

"What do you think he wants with Nelson?" one of the boys, Logan, asked.

"Don't know, and don't care. The sooner we're done with that creep, the better." That was Maps, the leader.

Suddenly, there was a woosh followed by a yelp and a scuffle.

"The hell was that?" Ruby, who was crouching low by the back left wheel of the car, made herself as small as she possible could, blending in with the shadows as the four intrepid gang members halted and started to make their way to where the sound was coming from.

She was positive that was Emma who, in her rush to get here - which was probably Ruby's fault - had teleported herself there. But with how tired she must be, after exerting herself at the station, she didn't exactly stick a smooth landing. Seeing that the boys were getting closer to where Emma was, Ruby settled on making herself known and cause a diversion.

"Fuck!" Trevor exclaimed, jumping back at seeing the ferocious wolf growl.

Maps just sighed, unimpressed. "First a freaking bear, and now a wolf? This town is beyond fucked up. I'm starting to think that maybe getting kicked out of this town would be a blessing. Now come on, it doesn't look feral. It'll be gone by the time we're done."

Ruby decided that it would be a good idea to go over to Emma, so she left the boys alone, and found Emma looking panicked at having potentially been caught. Then she saw the wolf and didn't look anymore comforted.

"Ruby?" she whispered harshly, clearly unsure if she was staring at a wild wolf, or her friend and partner.

The wolf nodded once before beckoning with her head so they could watch.

The boys had knocked on the door and were waiting for it to open. As soon as Mr. Nelson opened the door, they were on him.

"Come on!" Emma exclaimed, jutting out of their hiding spot like a track runner having heard the starting shot. "Everyone freeze!"

Ruby quickly leapt forward, fangs bared. She had briefly considered if she was more useful as a human or a wolf, before quickly deciding that wolf was definitely the wiser option. She ran after Emma, and soon they were standing at the foot of the steps leading to Mr. Nelson's home. Ruby was ready to pounce, and Emma had her gun drawn, looking every bit intimidating. Meanwhile two of the Wayward Gang had Nelson held by his upper arms, standing on the threshold of the house, while Maps and Logan were standing on the middle of the steps.

Logan cracked his knuckles and Ruby let out a low growl.

"Who wants to step up to the plate and explain what the hell is going on here?" Emma asked, quickly checking to see if Nelson was hurt, and then glancing to each of the present gang members. "Remember our deal? You tell me what's going on, I help you. You don't, I'll arrest your asses. And believe me, don't try your luck thinking that because we're outnumbered you'll be able to fight your way out here because we  _will_  kick all four of your asses straight to jail."

As always, Maps was the spokesperson. "Please Sheriff. You don't understand, just let us pass."

Emma didn't budge, pointing her gun at his leg. "Then help me understand. I am not going to let you get away with kidnapping. Tell me what happened."

"He'll kill Timmy."

"So now we've upgraded from kicking you guys out of town to killing Timmy?"

All four boys nodded.

"What does he want? Tell me his exact words."

Logan answered this one. "He wants us to take Nelson to our apartment, where he's waiting. If we take too long or try to get help, he'll kill him."

"Which is why you left one of your own there as well," Emma inferred.

Maps nodded. "Yeah, we left Nimble there to make sure the creep keeps his word, and try to stall if something happens. Please you have to believe us."

Emma lowered her gun, but was still tense. This didn't feel like a set-up, but she couldn't let a man just be taken like that.

"I'll do it, Sheriff Swan." Emma whipped up and saw that Mr. Nelson had spoken.

"With all due respect sir, we don't know who we're dealing with."

Nelson waved her off, or as well as he could, considering he was still being held. "Nonsense. I may be old, but I'm a skilled woodcarver. If I can help a family stay intact, then I'll do my darnest to go along with the plan. Besides, they clearly want me to do something. They stole my gear, and now they're taking me. Judging by the amount of wood stolen, it's for a big project. So let them take me, and I can find out what the plan is. If I get in trouble, I'll start swinging my axe."

Emma sighed, putting her gun away and stepped aside, allowing the boys to pass with the old man, who were now being gentler seeing that their victim was going willingly. "Don't give me a reason to doubt you, Maps."

Maps turned around with a smirk. "Never would, Sheriff."

* * *

"You trust them?" Ruby asked, as they walked back to the Cannery to get their car and return to the Station.

"It's a bit of a toss. I want to trust them, but that knife fight last week makes me doubt it. I just hope Nelson knows what he's doing."

Ruby nodded pensively. "He does. I mean, he's going to have plenty of sharp tools at his disposal."

"True. Also why weren't you answering your phone? I called you at least 10 times!"

Her partner cringed at the mix up. "I can't exactly answer the phone in wolf form. It's hidden somewhere in the fur, I just never really asked for the logistics."

"I figured, because the phone just kept ringing and ringing."

"Why were you trying to call me in the first place?"

Emma then told Ruby about the wood trunks being poofed away. "The weirdest part was the smoke, it was the same as the fake Serenader."

Ruby stopped and whipped around to face Emma. "You mean that the same person is behind both schemes? That can't be good."

"No, that's why we need to be smart and find a way to catch this guy, and fast."

* * *

It was nearly 1am and Regina couldn't fall asleep. Emma had texted her to let her know that the recon had been mildly successful, and that she would explain when she got home later. Home, it was funny how true that word was becoming for Regina. The apartment she was in right then felt more like home to her than the mansion she had lived in for the past 28 years. Sure with Henry it felt less like a museum, but getting to interact with not only Henry, but also Emma so freely, made her wonder if maybe staying at this apartment didn't have its benefits.

She felt the air shift before hearing the window open. Whipping around, she saw the Serenader sneaking in through the window. "At this rate, you should just ask for a key."

"I don't think the Sheriff would much enjoy it," she responded, standing upright and smoothing her clothes.

Regina chuckled, standing up. "No, certainly not,"  _unless you are the Sheriff,_  Regina added the last part in her mind.

"Can't sleep?" the figure asked, making her way closer to Regina.

"I'm a late sleeper, plus I figure I should wait for my roommate to come back."

The Serenader inclined her head in acknowledgement "Ah, then I'll keep this quick so you can sleep."

Regina tilted her head as she asked, "Decided to kill your own insomnia by visiting me?"

She heard a chuckle. "Not so much, I actually wanted to ask you something."

"Oh?" Regina wracked her brains trying to figure out what she could possibly want to ask her.

"I have read nearly all the books I found on magic, and not one of them talks about magic management, I was wondering-"

"-How to control magic so that you don't over exert yourself?" Regina asked, a smirk forming on her lips.

She was certain the Serenader was smiling sheepishly right now - and Regina was absolutely not imagining Emma's adorable sheepish smile to picture it - so she beckoned her over and they sat together on the couch. Regina explained a few exercises. It was all about control. Breathing, position, mind space. Magic was not something simple and easy like throwing confetti, it had to be planned meticulously. "After all, all magic comes with a price."

"So I've read, but that's not exactly insightful. Like what is the price? Does money get spirited away from my wallet? Am I selling my soul to some ethereal being? Do I get fined?"

Regina laughed, because it was true, the 'price' was vague. "Not exactly."

And Regina explained about how different magic took energy from different parts of the caster's body. A fireball might make them feel a chill, to kill would cause a sharp pain to the heart, to levitate something would make the caster feel more sluggish, and so on. "And I'm guessing you really exerted yourself today, didn't you?"

"Why do you think I didn't just poof myself here?"

Regina scoffed. "Because you should be mindful of other people's homes and not barge in to them?"

The Serenader inclined her head in defeat. "Touche."

After a few more minutes of talking, it was time to part ways.

"Will I get to see you tomorrow?" Regina asked, accompanying the Serenader to the window.

She gave a hum as if thinking. "Most probably, I can visit you at lunch to keep you company?"

Regina gave a genuine smile. "I'd love that."

"Thank you," the Serenader said, turning to face Regina. "I'm certain you weren't expecting to teach magic control at 1am to me, but-"

She was cut off with a swift kiss from Regina. Once they parted, the brunette responded, "Nonsense. I told you that you weren't a bother, that you could always ask me for magic training."

The Serenader snaked her arms around Regina to hold her close. "Maybe after this is all done, you could teach me some more?"

"I'd love that," Regina answered, before going to kiss again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know. This chapter's focus was more on the other drama, but look on the bright side, next chapter will be out soon!
> 
> And it'll include plenty of the Serenader! Including an impromptu and unofficial date...
> 
> As is always the case, I'd love to hear your thoughts!


	15. Just a Regular Day in Storybrooke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, the second update! And within the top 5 chapters in regards to chapter length!
> 
> Also I forgot to answer one Anon review from the chapter before last, asking how obscure the villain was. Let me put it you this way. I didn't even know the guy existed until I went on an expedition through the internet to search for plausible fairy tale villains to take the role. That's how obscure this dude is.
> 
> So! Let's get things going, we've got a lot of ground to cover! And plenty of call-backs to previous things that I left hanging, but don't worry about not remembering, I've given a bit of background so that it's easier to recall what was happening.

Regina heard her alarm go off and automatically moved to shut it off before her brain was even aware of what was going on. When her brain finally did kick into gear, she frowned. She didn't remember heading to bed. Last thing she  _did_ remember was kissing the Serenader goodbye and heading back to sit on the couch and wait for Emma to return. She must've fallen asleep. But who brought her to the bed and wrapped the comforter around her?

Deciding that this conundrum would be better solved after a cup of coffee, she got up and shuffled her way to the kitchen.

"Morning your Majesty, sleep well?" Emma was already preparing breakfast, but Regina noticed that, thankfully, Emma was in pyjamas, which at least meant that she had slept last night.

Regina merely nodded in response and sat down on her chair by the table, still not capable of forming words. She wasn't even sure how Emma was managing it, until she saw the mug of coffee beside the blonde. It made sense, Emma was even less of a morning person than she was without her cup of coffee.

They didn't speak for the next few minutes, the only sounds being Emma making breakfast, the coffee machine grinding, and the dull thumps of Henry dragging himself out of bed. When the coffee machine finished, Emma turned to pour the newly brewed coffee onto a mug for Regina. So with her back turned, Emma said, "I hope you don't mind that I carried you to bed last night, but you seemed kinda uncomfortable on the couch and I didn't want to jostle you too much and wake you."

Had Regina been looking at Emma - or been more awake when her roommate did turn around to make her way towards the table in order to deposit the coffee - she would have realized that Emma was blushing furiously. But as it was, Regina merely gave a noncommittal hum and brought the steaming mug to her lips, careful to not scald herself as she took her first caffeine intake of the day.

After a few more seconds of silence, Regina finally had her strength to actually articulate words, so she said, "Thank you."

"Anytime," Emma responded with a smile.

Henry came shuffling and sat down beside Regina. She was glad that Emma had taken charge of preparing breakfast for them, because she didn't think she'd be able to do so herself. It was a system they had worked out for while they were all living together. Breakfast was Emma's domain, and dinner was Regina's. Lunch depended on the day and the circumstances. Today's morning meal was quiet, since it had been a long night for both adults, and Henry's state at breakfast didn't particularly invoke social interactions. Soon enough everyone was done and they all individually and silently moved to their respective bedrooms to get ready for the day ahead.

Emma was the first done, and she was jiggling with her keys when Henry arrived, prepared and grabbing his backpack. "I'll be taking you today kid, I'll just go let Regina know and then we can get going."

Henry nodded and waited, sitting by the couch. He wondered if Emma would want to use the time to talk to him about Serenader stuff.

* * *

He was right.

"So, you're really okay with all of this?" Emma asked as they walked towards Henry's school. It was a nice spring day so they opted against taking the car.

"Totally! I mean I still think you should've just told mom, but you're making her happy," Henry responded with a grin.

It was reminiscent of their conversation from yesterday after Henry had uncovered the truth, but Emma wanted to be sure Henry was  _truly_  fine with this, and it was better to ask after the heat of the moment died down. Sure he might've been excited at the time, after also having solved the mystery, but now he had had time to ponder things. To hear he felt the same made Emma breathe easier. With a chuckle, Emma looped her arm around Henry's shoulders and pulled her towards him for a quick hug. "Henry I'm trying to serenade your mom, who was a veritable queen once upon a time, pun intended. I just didn't want to mess things up in case she didn't feel the same way."

Henry frowned. Although he was very smart and perceptive for his age, he was still a child, and his way of thinking was much simpler. "What would be messed up?"

Emma sighed, and stopped walking. She crouched down in front of him so they were eye-to-eye, and thought about what she'd say. She couldn't very well say that she was thinking about how it'd mess things up for him, for his dynamic with his two moms, and lead to something akin to a divorced parents' settlement, being shuffled between two homes. That had been the original plan that they had decided on before the curse broke, but Emma now realized that having them living under one roof and giving Henry a stable home with both his moms was so much better. If things got weird when Emma revealed herself, Henry would be the one to pay the biggest price and lose the most.

But the kid didn't deserve to have that kind of burden thrust onto his 11-year old shoulders. So she gave a half truth. "Well, your mom's been staying with us recently, and I've been really enjoying that, if things got awkward between us, she'd be less inclined to want to stay there."

Henry nodded sagely, but Emma was sure he didn't fully grasp what she was trying to say, mainly because Emma didn't know how to explain it. "So," Henry started, walking off again, hands holding the shoulder straps to his backpack, "what's the plan for today?"

By way of answer, Emma winked and walked over to the newspaper vendor cart, tossed him a few coins and grabbed the top edition of the Storybrooke Daily Mirror. She was thankful that the newspapers were so cheap here, and considering that everyone bought the paper since the town hadn't fully integrated to the digital age- which meant physical paper copies for everyone - she supposed Sidney Glass was earning enough with the coins he amassed daily to keep the price down.

"Oh Sheriff!" the newspaper vendor exclaimed. When Emma paused and turned back, he continued, "If you wish, you can come back and buy a better version of the paper, this one was hijacked and vandalized!"

Emma just nodded and smiled. "Yeah I know, I'm taking one for evidence."

The vendor just made an 'ah' expression, and waved her goodbye. When Emma made her way back to Henry, she turned the paper to face him. There, where the headline usually was, was the next line of the song and a picture of the night sky below it.

**_I don't care, go on and tear me apart_ **

Henry giggled at the bold letters. "How did you-" he paused at Emma's stern glare. "How do you think this happened?" he amended. They never knew who might be listening.

Emma gave a small shrug, but grinned as they kept walking. "Well I suppose sneaking in and changing the plates so they would print something else might do the trick. Or maybe the Serenader was stuck on bed rest a few days ago and decided to call an old friend who she knew had knowledge of this kind of thing because he's a writer."

The young boy quickly caught on to what she was inferring and he smiled. "Gotcha. When's the second part coming out?"

"What makes you think it's not already out?" Emma cryptically responded.

* * *

Kathryn went inside Granny's diner for her usual morning coffee run, and was surprised to see that Granny wasn't in the kitchen, but rather fishing around for something behind the counter, while Ruby looked on nearby, amused.

"I will have his head, I swear," she muttered.

"Actually, the Serenader's a she," Ruby corrected, biting her lip.

Granny whipped around to glare at Ruby, who instantly sobered up. Seeing Kathryn there, the waitress took the welcome reprieve and approached the blonde.

"Dare I even ask?" Kathryn nodded over to Granny who looked like a woman on a mission.

To answer her, she just fished her order pad out of her apron pocket. On the surface, she saw that the Serenader had been hard at work, and had covered the entire surface with a message.

_** ** _

_**I don't care if you do** _

She had already seen the paper this morning, and chuckled at this new addition. "Can't you just use the next page?"

"Nope." Ruby then flipped through the entire pad, and saw that the words hadn't been written on the pad, they were  _carved into it_. Kathryn asked if she could take a sheet to show Regina, and the waitress gave her the entire pad, saying she had no use for it anyway.

Kathryn let out a quiet chuckle when she grabbed the pad, mindful of the fact that a very pissed Granny did not find this at all funny. "So is she trying to find some bolts to load her crossbow with and lead a manhunt for the Serenader?"

Ruby shrugged her shoulders and grimaced. "Maybe later when the rush dies down. Now she's trying to find an order pad that hasn't been carved into."

"There was more than one?" Kathryn asked, shocked.

"Yep, all 3."

She had to give credit to the Serenader, the woman was determined. Regina had called her last night to explain what happened after she left, including the questioning at the station and the new information she had found out, including the Serenader's gender. Kathryn was ecstatic for her friend, and could only hope that sometime next week, Regina would have her Serenader reveal herself.

Ruby interrupted her musing by asking her if she wanted her usual, and after Kathryn confirmed yes, she sat by the counter, waiting for her order. Glancing over at the end of the counter, she examined the community events that the town would be holding in the next few weeks. One in particular caught her eye - beat poetry night over at the Rabbit Hole - and it reminded her of something she had jotted down in her mental 'to do' list.

When her order was ready, Kathryn launched into her question. "Hey Ruby, I've been meaning to ask, you mentioned last week Emma word-slamming. What was that all about?"

So Ruby explained Emma's epic defense for Regina over at the station, and how she'd filmed it. "I'll send it to you!"

A few minutes later, Kathryn's phone pinged with a new message. "Thanks! Hope your day's not too hectic!"

Ruby just laughed. It just wouldn't be Storybrooke if there was no mayhem.

* * *

Elsewhere in town, Leroy was marching up to the convent. He completely bypassed his usual route that would take him to Nova, not that he thought he'd find her there. All the fairies were crowded around the whiteboard in the front hall for some inexplicable reason, and Leroy found that he didn't much care for the why, since it usually just held a cheerful quote or inspiring message. They were probably holding a discussion group over today's inscription. He instead banged none-too-gently on Mother Superior's door.

Blue opened the door and was prepared to berate whoever was at there until she saw Leroy. Ushering him inside without a word, she waited until the door was closed to ask what he was doing here.

"It's Emma, she's out of control! She let the Serenader go after 'interrogating' her! She's bending over to the bitch's every will! Did you see this morning's drivel on the Mirror? This town is going to hell! How much longer for that potion?"

Blue sighed. She wished this was more expedited. "Not much longer. This is a powerful potion and it's not meant to be easily made. So the ingredients are a bit tricky. I was having a bit of trouble finding an ingredient, but now that I have it, it should be ready soon."

"How soon? Soon enough we'll have this whacko and Emma joining forces!" Leroy exclaimed.

"Well, let's go check it, shall we?" Without another thought, she transported them to Storybrooke Hospital.

Leroy shuddered and grumbled. Just because he was on Blue's side and fancied Nova, didn't mean he was any closer to accepting or enjoying magic. His days mining for fairy dust was as close as he got to enjoying the stuff. Blue had spoken to a nurse on duty at the circulation desk, letting her know that she needed Dr. Whale's presence and if she could page him. After that was sorted out, she started walking towards a quieter part of the hospital, to an empty examination room. There, multiple vials and ingredients were lain on a stainless steel table, along with a wood cutting board, a sharp knife and a small steaming container. Basic materials needed to concoct any potion.

"It'll probably be ready for tomorrow," Blue assessed, clearly noting something that told the time that remained within the concoction being prepared.

"And it'll get rid of any magical residue that's controlling Emma?" Leroy asked, wanting to make sure.

Blue nodded. "Yes, any and all magical residue or magic residing within her will be extinguished."

Suddenly the door opened bringing in a very irate Dr. Whale. "You better start preparing another fucking potion."

His words sounded slurred, and Leroy was temporarily jealous of the man for being able to drink so freely and still hold a respectable job. Then he focused on what the doctor had said. "Why?"

"Because of this!" he exclaimed, bringing out his prescription notepad out of his coat pocket and holding it out. His notepad had clear words etched on to the paper - they would later see that it was carved onto it, effectively ruining any chance for Whale to write anything.

_** ** _

_**I don't care if you do** _

"Ah yes. Our whiteboard over at the convent was vandalized as well, though our message was written in sharpie, meaning we can't erase it. Nonetheless, while I can think of a couple of potions that might work, I believe the Anti-Serenader wanted to take care of it himself."

Leroy and Whale both frowned at her. "You know who the other whacko is?"

Blue nodded, flashing a conspiratorial smirk.

* * *

Emma was currently walking towards the Station, greeting the people of the town as they saw her. She hoped that, by keeping a good relationship with most of the town, she'd be able to lower tensions. It certainly did them no good to have a high strung town. She was originally in no real hurry to get to work, but she had already received 5 calls from angry citizens on the Serenader's antics, and felt that, for her own sanity, she should at least try to make her way to work promptly. Suddenly she started smelling something burning, and saw what looked like a huge column of smoke rising from a few cars in the distance.

Breaking into a run, Emma kept her eyes peeled to assess the entire situation. She dialed for the fire department, and succinctly told them the situation that was brewing. After she hung up, she saw the culprit. The Anti-Serenader.

"Hey! Stop!" Emma exclaimed, pulling to a stop and drawing her gun. She pointed at the figure and added, "Put your hands in the air!"

She was certain that if she could see, he would be smirking at her. He broke off into a run and Emma charged after him. She couldn't take a clean shot, so she put the gun away, and focused on keeping her steps light in order to catch up to him. She had heard that the fire truck was approaching the scene so she felt confident enough to chase after the guy and leave the burning cars. She zoomed past the arriving fire engine coming from the opposite direction and just kept running.

Her entire body was burning at the exertion, and the guy ahead was losing steam. He clearly wasn't a runner. But just as Emma lunged to tackle the guy, he disappeared, leaving only a trail of magical smoke, and Emma to heavily collide and scrape against the asphalt with a hiss.

Shit.

* * *

Emma tiredly dragged her feet back to the scene. The fire had been put out, and thankfully none of the cars had blown up, otherwise the debris and the damage on the quaint suburban area would've been enormous. As it was, the sidewalk and asphalt around the cars were scorched, as well as a bit of grass in the vicinity. She approached the fire chief and got a report, after she assured him that her scrapes were nothing to worry about. He didn't look too convinced, but dropped the subject.

3 cars had been set on fire, no one was hurt, but they were damaged beyond repair. Apart from being burned completely, their sides had been keyed in with identical messages.

_** ** _

_**I don't care if you do** _

What the hell? It was clear this Anti-Serenader was protesting. He didn't like the Serenader doing her act for Regina, so now he had settled on doing anti-messages as well. This wouldn't bode well. Thankfully there weren't anymore messages today that he could copy, and hopefully by the time Monday rolled around, the imposter would be caught.

After assuring her that they had this under control, Emma left the firefighters to their work and made her way to Town Hall. The least she could do was to warn Regina the imposter was upping their game, and might try to confuse Regina. Or worse, hurt her.

She walked inside the yellow building, and bounded up the stairs. As she entered the outer office, Emma saw that Regina was standing by Kathryn's desk, hovering over her friend's chair, while the two looked at something on Kathryn's phone. The latter was smirking, while the former was slack-jawed.

"Hey, what's going on?" Emma asked, heading to the desk, shoving her hands into her jean's pockets.

"Speak of the devil," Kathryn murmured, puzzling Emma further. Seeing the expression, she added, "I finally asked Ruby about your infamous word-slam."

And indeed, she could hear, via the small speaker on Kathryn's phone, her voice, vaguely distorted from her distance, repeating words she had exclaimed after her parents had tried to once again convince her that Regina was up to something notorious. She said nothing as Regina finished watching the video, noting that she was probably watching it for the first time, while Kathryn's knowing smirk meant that she had seen this video at least once before. She hoped this video wouldn't end up outing her as the Serenader somehow.

The video ended, and Regina stood straight, clearing her throat. It was then that she noticed Emma was there, having been too engrossed in the video to notice her friend's entrance. Emma flashed Regina a shy smile, hoping that Regina wouldn't take offense for whatever reason for what she had seen in the video.

Without saying a word, Regina walked around Kathryn's desk and purposely made her way over to Emma. The Sheriff flashed a quick nervous glance at Kathryn, but it seemed she was as baffled as Emma. So it was an understatement to say that Emma was shocked when Regina threw her arms around Emma and gave her a firm hug. When the shock wore off, Emma was quick to wrap her arms around Regina's middle, returning the hug.

"Thank you," Emma heard Regina mumble quietly.

"Anytime," she responded with a smile.

After a few seconds in comfort, they broke apart and Regina finally got a good look at her, now that her hair had shifted and displayed the laceration on her chin. "What happened to you?!"

Emma was about to brush it off, since her jeans and jacket had taken the brunt of it, but Regina wouldn't hear it. "Kathryn please go fetch the first aid kit."

Kathryn quickly ran off to grab the kit. "Regina, it's fine, it's just a few scrapes."

Regina had only seen the angry red scraped skin by Emma's chin, and she quickly let her eyes roam over Emma's body, trying to find where else she was hurt. "What did you do, get into a fight? Where else are you hurt?"

Emma held out the palms of her hands, and Regina frowned. Kathryn had returned with the white box, and they moved closer to Kathryn's desk. "Sit."

At that moment, Emma decided that it was best not to argue, so she sat on the visitor's chair, while Kathryn sat in her regular chair. Regina then thought to one again ask about Emma's visit as she opened a packet containing an alcohol wipe. "What happened? Is something wrong?"

Emma made a face, both in answer to Regina's question, and from the sting where the wipe touched her palm. "When is something not wrong in this town? Anyway, I trust you've heard about the Serenader's messages today?"

Both Kathryn and Regina nodded, the former holding up today's paper and Ruby's pad. "Well, according to multiple calls I got, Granny's notepad wasn't the only one to get a message carved into it. Whale's prescription pad got the same treatment, and over at the Convent, the fairies had a white board that has the same message written in sharpie."

Regina couldn't help but smirk. Oh her Serenader was quite cheeky. She shifted to clean the other palm. "Clever. I'm guessing that, due to your calls, the town was indignant at the notion?"

"Definitely, I didn't think much of it because it was relatively harmless, so I was in no hurry to investigate. But the town just kept calling! While I was walking to the Station after dropping Henry off, I kept getting one call after every block. So I decided to take a shortcut to get to the Station faster, and then suddenly, the freaking Anti-Serenader was there!"

Kathryn whipped her head to look at Emma, and Regina paused in her ministrations. "How did you know it was the anti-Serenader?" Kathryn asked.

Emma quickly realized that she hadn't thought how she'd explain the difference. "Uhm, well, I...it'll become clearer later. Anyway, he had set cars on fire-"

"Fire?" Regina asked, appalled, grasping Emma's chin with her free hand, and her other hand gently wiping the wound nearby.

Emma was finding it really hard to concentrate with Regina so close to her. But she at least had figured out a reason as to how she knew it was the Anti-Serenader. "Yeah, I chased him down and was about to tackle him when he disappeared into a cloud of dark smoke. Hence how I know it's the fake guy, and why I have these scrapes. Ow!"

Regina had just wiped particularly hard on a spot, causing her to flinch. "You were going after a dangerously unstable and powerful magic user by yourself?!"

"Yeah?" Emma responded, avoiding Regina's piercing gaze. Which was a lot harder when she was so close to her and with her chin being held in place.

"You could have gotten seriously hurt!" Regina let go of Emma's chin having finished her cleaning, and then deposited the dirty wipe inside the packet once again, before throwing it at the garbage can nearby. "Now that your wounds are clean, I just have to heal them for you."

Emma shook her head, "It's okay Regina, it's just a few scrapes-"

"No. It might be a point of pride for you, but the Anti-Serenader is doing this because of the Serenader, and by proxy, me. The least I can do is heal you, Emma," Regina insisted. "Please?"

Emma couldn't say no to Regina like this, so she nodded. After a few seconds, she felt the soreness from her lacerations recede until they were gone.

"There," Regina said once she was done, smiling brightly at Emma.

"Thanks Regina. But anyway, the whole point of the visit was actually to warn you about the whacko. He's stepping up his game, because the burnt cars had been keyed in with the same message on the notepad."

Regina looked appalled. "He's copying the Serenader?"

Emma nodded. "But clearly in a more destructive and pervasive manner. If you have any way of contacting the real Serenader, let her know about this. The last thing you or she would want to have to deal with is an unstable maniac like him."

"Of course, I have a lunch date with her, I'll let her know then," Regina responded succinctly, her mind reeling from this new development. "Thank you for letting me know, Emma."

"Anytime," Emma responded with a grin, standing up.

Regina went to hug her once more - and Emma tried very hard to not let herself melt too much into the hug - and then Emma left, asking to keep her updated of any news.

After she was sure Emma was well out of earshot, Kathryn turned to smirk knowingly at her friend. "So..."

Regina merely raised her eyebrow and repeated, "...so?"

"You've got nothing to say about the video I showed you?" Kathryn clarified.

"Oh...well, what do you want me to say?" Regina responded, her voice unsure.

Kathryn sighed. Regina could be quite boneheaded. "Look Regina, you know I love you, but you can't be that blind! Emma keeps defending you with the same vigour as a certain someone is serenading you with. Tell me you've at least seen that?"

Regina nodded, because of course she had. She just kept on noticing how much Emma continuously defended her in front of others, and after seeing the video, it made her wonder why she had been convinced that Emma was doing this only at Henry's bequest.

"Then? Are you going to say anything?" Kathryn asked, trying to prod her friend into a reaction.

"What if I'm wrong though? What if Emma is just doing this because she's the Saviour and wants the best for Henry? Maybe she's not the Serenader. Besides, she was beside me while we were questioning the Serenader."

Kathryn wasn't deterred. "And weren't you the one who told me that there was magic all over the room? Maybe someone was pretending to be her and she was being the Serenader. Or vice versa."

Regina made a face. She did not enjoy the idea that she might have kissed someone who wasn't the Serenader last night.

"Okay, scratch the vice versa. But the point still stands Regina. You've got it bad. Just tell her, maybe you'll end up making things easier for the both of you, especially if this nutjob is upping his game."

"No, I can't. If I'm wrong and I make things awkward between Emma and I, what happens to Henry? I'll just hope for the best, and talk to the Serenader on our lunch date." Regina then closed the topic by grabbing the newspaper and the notepad before heading into her office.

* * *

It was right around her lunch break when Kathryn noticed that a visitor was entering the outer office. The Serenader.

"And good morning to you. I've heard you've had quite a busy morning," Kathryn greeted, pointing her pen at her own copy of this morning's paper.

The Serenader chuckled. "All in a day's work." She held up the bag of Granny's takeout. "Is she free?"

Kathryn smiled and nodded. "Definitely. We don't get many visitors, and if we do, they prefer to do everything through me, and avoid having to see Regina at all."

Although no one could see her, Emma frowned. She hadn't thought things would get this lonely at Town Hall. "Well I'm glad she has you for company at least, because I'd hate to see her lonely all the time, so thank you," she said, bowing her head slightly as she walked closer to Regina's office door.

"Thank  _you_  for doing this for Regina. Whatever else the town may say about you, I'm glad you're making Regina happy. Just know I'm rooting for you," Kathryn answered with a wink.

The Serenader waved with her free hand in response before going inside the office.

Regina looked up from her work to smile brightly at the newcomer. "Is it lunch time already?"

She nodded. "Yep, and I've got us food."

"I'm assuming you didn't walk in like that to get us our food, right?" Regina asked, eyeing the bag's logo warily.

"Why yes of course. After this morning's antics with her order pads, Granny gladly served me our meal with plenty of crossbow bolts on the side to make for a healthy meal," the Serenader snarked. "But no, I had Ruby help me out."

Regina raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? So you have a partner in this?"

The Serenader walked up to the desk and set the bag of food down. "Yep. Don't tell me you're jealous?"

"Not at all, just curious and trying to find out more about you," Regina responded, flashing a smirk.

The Serenader leaned over the desk to plant a kiss on Regina's lips. "Just 5 more days. Surely your curiosity can hold off for that long?"

"About that," Regina began, biting her lip before continuing, "the Anti-Serenader has decided that going nuts all over town isn't enough, and has decided to mimic your messages, but in a more violent manner." She picked up her phone from where it rested neatly on her desk, and pulled up the image that Emma had sent over. Of course, should her and Kathryn's theory be correct, she would just be showing the Serenader the message she herself had taken and sent.

"Wow, I really want to punch this guy," the Serenader said, after having taken a good look at the picture.

"So, what do you propose we do?" Regina asked, genuinely curious for the answer, putting the phone down.

The Serenader thought about it for a moment, and then said, "I'll deliver the remaining messages personally. That way we can see each other and I can assure you that they get to you."

Regina smiled at the answer. "Sounds perfect. Now, shall we get started on lunch?"

With a nod, the Serenader began to open the bag but Regina put her hand over the Serenader's gloved one to pause her and shook her head. "Let's eat by the couch. This seems too formal."

"Very well, lead the way!" With a bow and a flourish, she waited until Regina got up and began walking to the couch before following her with the food. They sat down and the Serenader took out the food containers from the bag, adding, "I was assured by Ruby that this is what you ordered every time you went there."

Regina chuckled and nodded. "Thank you. Are you really going to eat with that foggy cover?"

The Serenader shrugged. "Sure, unless the food comes out tasting weird. I am not having grilled cheese drizzled in fog."

Regina couldn't help but snort, but then she asked, "Would it really be that terrible to show me your face? I mean, it might even be safer? Especially with what's going on?"

She sighed and put down her sandwich before cupping Regina's face in her hands. "Look, truth be told I would love nothing more than to do that. But I'm scared. All my life, I've had to face rejection and being told that I'm not enough. You are so much more. You were a queen! And I'm just...me."

Regina surged forward and pressed her lips to the Serenader's. It was quick, but she wanted to answer and quell the Serenader's fears. They parted, and Regina moved to look where she hoped the Serenader's eyes were. She brought her hand to caress the figure's wrists, and started, "You are worthy. You are worth every single kiss, every single hug, and every single smile I give you, and so much more. I might have been a Queen, yes, but I don't care about that. That was in the past, a past I'd rather move forward from. You said you were scared, and to be honest, I am scared too, because I've fallen for you. But I feel like you deserve more than the most hated person in town. Plus, until recently, I thought this was merely a prank. But I want you, no matter who you are under that hood."

Emma was very tempted to just lower her hood, and see what would happen. Heck, her arms twitched as her hands began to pull back from where they rested on Regina's cheeks to do just that, but at the last second she decided against it. She kissed her again, and then said, "And you deserve every happiness I can offer, but I need more time, please?"

"Of course," Regina nodded and smiled genuinely. She'd wait as long as it took.

"Thank you; now," she jerked her head to the food on the table, "let's eat."

* * *

"Leroy! Blue! Is everything alright?" Mary Margaret asked, looking at the two unlikely visitors to her door in the late afternoon.

Blue decided to respond, "Yes, in a way. May we come in?"

Mary Margaret nodded and stood aside to allow them in, while David approached the newcomers. "What is this about?"

"Emma," Blue responded simply.

"Is she alright?" both parents were quick to ask.

"She's fine, but we're worried for her. Ever since the curse has broken, she has been acting as Regina's protector, and we don't believe she's doing this of her own volition. We know the Queen is a meticulous planner, and she knew that the moment this curse broke, it would be her downfall and worse. By having Emma as her thrall, she stands to gain everything. She has a vocal and well-liked shield against all of us well-meaning citizens, and she gets to keep Henry with her, because Henry will go anywhere Emma is, even if it means staying with Regina."

Mary Margaret and David nodded. They had been worried for the same. That Regina had somehow bewitched their daughter.

"So we have come up with a way to solve this once and for all," Leroy spoke up.

"How?" David asked, crossing his arms.

"A potion," Blue stated, drawing the blue vial out with a flourish. She had managed to finish it earlier than she had predicted, and she wasted no time in getting Leroy to accompany her to drop it off. "Currently it's blue, but once you mix it in with water, it will be colourless and tasteless. Once she drinks it, this potion will remove any magic within her system."

"Permanently?" Mary Margaret was quick to ask, wanting to assure herself that Regina wouldn't be able to just cast a spell again on Emma.

"Not exactly. It won't prevent her from getting bewitched again, but any magic within her at the moment will be purged," the fairy explained.

David nodded slowly to the explanation. "And it's painless?"

"Of course, provided the dosage of magic in her blood is small. But my assumption is that the Queen didn't bother to use much of her magic, just a simple spell to make Emma defend her. Her attitude is largely the same from what we've seen, except perhaps some of her actions recently," Blue said, glancing at Leroy momentarily.

"Yeah, she threatened me last week that I had to clean the mayor's office otherwise she'd make it impossible for me to get a drink in this town. Can you believe it?" Leroy grumbled.

Mary Margaret just had one more question to ask, because that assumption of Blue's worried her, "But why not give the potion to Regina? I mean, if she has magic, wouldn't that get rid of Regina's magic, as well as remove whatever spell she has on Emma, while keeping Emma out of danger?"

Blue shook her head. "Believe me, I'd love to. It would be effective and cause her plenty of pain, as it's very toxic to any magical being or magic user. But I don't have any way of getting her to ingest it. No, right now the best course of action is to get Emma out of whatever spell she's under, and go from there."

Mary Margaret and David looked at one another, before the former took the blue vial from Blue's outstretched hand. Now she just had to somehow get Emma to drink this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's that for now! Fluffy love speech from Regina [just in case anyone thought that Emma's declarations of love weren't being reciprocated], and plenty of madness going on! Plus I couldn't resist ending the chapter there, in a semi cliffhanger.
> 
> Next chapter will feature plenty of weekend hijinks and family bonding time! And the Charmings trying to feed their daughter some potion that will have dire consequences on her magic. Yikes!
> 
> Meanwhile I'll be updating Flirting with Death, as well as filling a couple of drabbles.
> 
> Let me know what you thought of this!


	16. New Allies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! I think I've left you guys waiting long enough, wouldn't you say?
> 
> Everyone's freaking out about Emma losing her magic, those damn Charmings and the ever meddling shady Blue.
> 
> So I'll keep my babbling to a minimum, and we can get started on the story!
> 
> Thank you so much for the continued support!

That night, when Emma got a call from her parents to meet them for breakfast the next day, she didn't think much on it, and accepted. She had time tomorrow to eat a meal with them before heading to Regina's old house to help fix it up, and she hadn't seen them since the interrogation with the Serenader. She did feel a bit guilty for delaying  **the**  conversation for her parents, but she really didn't feel ready.

On the other hand, outright ignoring them or making excuses to avoid them wasn't really the best way to handle it. So if she had to do this to show them that she was processing things, rather than evading them, then she would.

"You don't have to go, you know?" Regina said, looking up from her copy of this morning's paper. Since it was Saturday, Regina was drinking her morning coffee while lounging on the sofa, enjoying the slow start. Henry was still sleeping, so she had no hurry; they had time until they had to go and start reparations on her house.

Emma was adjusting her jacket - the infamous red leather one - and gave Regina a sad smile. "I thought about making an excuse, I've got no shortage of them, but these past few weeks have been kinda hectic and I should try to make an effort and meet them halfway."

Regina nodded her understanding. She really was a Charming.

"But if I'm not at your house in an hour, please rescue me," Emma pleaded, and while Emma was saying it humorously, both women understood that she wasn't kidding. Emma did not want to be there for an hour, listening to her parents being overly sweet and nauseatingly  _good_.

"I'll forgo the shiny armour and white steed, but I'll make something up that makes it impossible for you to stay," Regina quipped with a mischievous smirk. "Even if I have to pretend to stomp around and grow fangs," she added, curling her fingers in front of her mouth as if they were fangs to enhance the effect.

Emma burst out laughing at how comical Regina seemed. "I'll be sure to faint in your arms when you rescue me."

When Emma was near the door, she called out, "Maybe I'll manage the impossible and get them to join us helping to fix up your house."

Regina's response was to snort in laughter. As if.

* * *

When she knocked on the door to her parents' loft, Emma was certain that she was visibly shaking. Or at the very least, pale as a sheet.

As the door opened, she readied herself for the barrage of hugs and the like, but was pleasantly surprised when Mary Margaret just opened the door and gave her a vibrant smile, stepping aside to beckon her inside. "You made it! Come in, we just finished making coffee."

She certainly wasn't going to turn down coffee, so Emma crossed the threshold and made her way to the kitchen counter, plopping down on a stool, and gratefully accepted the mug David held out for her.

"Here you go, fresh from the pot," David said with an easy grin. "What are you in the mood to eat? I can make waffles, toast, or eggs. If you want pancakes, I'm afraid you'll have to coax Mary Margaret for that."

Emma gave a silent chuckle. "Toast is fine. I probably shouldn't fill my stomach too much, otherwise later I'm gonna feel bloated with all the renovating."

Mary Margaret sat beside her and airily asked, "How is that going by the way? Are you guys making progress?"

Taking a sip, Emma waited a few seconds before answering. Something was strange here, and Emma's danger alarms were ringing at full blast. Deciding to go along with them for now, she said, "Yeah. It's a bit harder considering it's just small crew of us, but we're making progress."

They both nodded, and they fell into an uncomfortable silence. Emma desperately wanted to demand to know what was going on, but she feared sounding paranoid, or find herself in an awkward situation because the topic would be the one thing she was trying to avoid talking about.

Soon enough, a plate was wordlessly placed in front of her, and she decided that this tense situation just wouldn't do. "Okay, so is someone going to tell me what's going on here? Or are we going to tersely sit here for all of breakfast?"

Not saying anything, Mary Margaret got down from her seat and went to grab a bottle from the spice rack, before placing it down in front of Emma's plate. It was filled with a soft blue liquid, and she frowned at it, reaching forward across her plate to pick it up. Turning it gently in her hands, she surmised it was probably a potion of some kind. Either that, or her mother was messing around with some strange herbs. "Okay, what does this have to do with my question?"

"We're worried about you, Emma," David began, getting her to turn to her right and face him.

"Worried about me?" she repeated, confused.

Things weren't much clearer when Mary Margaret blurted out, "Yes, and we want you to drink this potion."

At Emma's baffled expression, Mary Margaret tried again, a tad calmer. "Emma, this potion will remove any magical effect that Regina has put you under..."

"What? I've already told you, I'm not under any spell," Emma slowly stated, trying to keep her ire from rising. Had this been their entire plan?

David haltingly tried to dissuade the anger he could see in his daughter's eyes. "We know, you've said that ad nauseam, but the point is that you wouldn't be aware if you were under a spell."

Emma looked between them in disbelief. "Is that how little you trust me?"

"Emma, it's not  _you_  we don't trust, it's  _Regina_ ," Mary Margaret was quick to correct.

Putting the potion down, Emma gathered her thoughts. Despite her anger, she decided that yelling at them outright wouldn't garner her any points. "Okay, you don't trust Regina, that's an established fact. But what about me screams 'possessed'? Or is me protecting Regina that outlandish?"

"Well, that, plus you've been sort of harsh in your protection of Regina, especially since, before the curse broke, you clearly wanted to take her down a notch..." Mary Margaret said.

"Whoa whoa, back up," Emma said, shaking her head and splaying her hands out to stop them. "I don't know how many times I've told you guys this before, but I guess I have to repeat myself again:

"Before the curse broke, I thought she was just a woman who was taking things too far, so yeah I wasn't her biggest fan, but that was because she was trying to run me out of town just because I decided to stick around, so obviously we clashed. After working to break the curse, and finding out who she really was, I just saw a woman who was worried about losing her kid. She hasn't had the easiest life, and the storybook Henry has doesn't even mention a percentage of what she's really gone through, but I saw that she has a heart. She wanted to save Henry just as much as I did, so much that she was willing to work with me to do so.

"Do I think she's faultless? No of course not, I know she's done some dodgy things, and very questionable ones as well. But like I've been saying, I also think she's trying to change, she's trying to atone for all the bad she's done. That's why I'm defending her, because I want to give her a chance to change, and a reason to do so. Plus, as Sheriff of this town, I protect everyone within my domain, and that includes Regina. I won't be selective just because of an old grudge. All of this without mentioning the fact that it's  _your friends_  who are threatening to kill her. And threats of murder are enough to make me protect her, even if for some reason I was against her.

"Look, this is who I am. I may not be the perfect daughter you guys were looking for, but I protect my friends tooth and nail until my last breath. So if you guys are really determined to stick to this 'Emma's under a spell' stuff, then fine, I'll drink the potion to prove you guys wrong."

Her parents blinked at her, slightly speechless. "Emma..." Mary Margaret breathlessly started, but couldn't seem to find more words to say.

David however, had recuperated a bit quicker. "We'd never make you do that Emma. That's why we told you about it, rather than tricking you into drinking it. And I do get where you're coming from, but our apprehension was due to the fact that like we've also said, we've  _tried_  to give her chances before, but nothing stuck."

"Maybe she didn't have the right motivation," Emma shrugged. "She was heartbroken and angry and vengeful so she had nothing to lose. But now she wants to try, and I think if you gave her the chance, you'd see that my claims are not unfounded. You guys are all about giving other people chances. Hell you gave the Wayward Gang, who - I will remind you - stabbed me a few months back, another chance. Let Regina try to make this up, you'll see she means no harm."

They considered it for a moment, Mary Margaret took a sip from her mug, returning to her seat, while David went to eat his eggs.

Finally Mary Margaret spoke. "Alright, one more chance couldn't hurt, right David?"

Humming around his full mouth, David agreed. After he swallowed, he said, "Who knows, she might surprise us."

Emma looked between them to make sure they weren't being sarcastic or pulling her leg. "Yeah? You'll give her another chance?"

"Yes," Mary Margaret nodded once more.

Emma couldn't have been happier. "That's awesome! If you guys are seen supporting her, then maybe group vitriol might cool their jets."

This brought them to a new topic. "Have they been that bad?" Mary Margaret asked, cringing slightly.

"Worse." Emma stated, looking between them. They couldn't be that clueless. "You can't tell me you haven't seen the multitude of your friends and supporters aim their weapons and efforts at killing Regina?"

"We knew they were all angry at her, and they were stocking up on ammo to protect themselves, but we've been focusing our efforts on getting home. They know better than to go for extreme violence, and we've tried to deter people from going that route in favour of helping us find a way home," David explained.

Emma flared her nostrils, feeling that they just went back to square one. "Maybe instead of focusing on the pipe dream that is the world that doesn't exist anymore, you should focus on the world you're living in now? Because Regina's house wasn't just destroyed by itself. And Granny's crossbow and Leroy's attitude isn't just for show."

"I thought after you lectured them that night, they had curbed their need for blood," David said. Sure they knew Regina's house had been destroyed, and Granny's crossbow constantly remained polished by the counter at the diner, but they weren't gearing up to go to war or anything.

"Nope," Emma responded, barely batting an eyelid. "Clearly you guys have been too engrossed in your research."

Looking at each other, they were both sporting identical looks of confusion. David asked, shifting the subject a bit, "But Emma, don't you want to see our world? See where you're from?"

Shrugging, she said, "Maybe visiting it if the opportunity had presented itself, but I wouldn't go live there."

"You wouldn't?" Mary Margaret sounded shocked.

" _No_. I like modern technology, and medicine, and especially plumbing, thank you very much," Emma responded. "Plus I think it's already been proven that the place was destroyed and it's impossible to get back, wasn't it?"

Dejected, they sagged their shoulders. Perhaps it truly was time to hang up that idea. Especially if it meant that Emma didn't want it. They would not allow themselves to be separated from their daughter again, or let life pass them by like this.

"I suppose so," Mary Margaret acquiesced. "But have things  _really_  been that bad? I know you said it's worse, but like David said, I was under the impression they were just fuming silently. That their more...vocal and violent tendencies were now focused on the Serenader, and the weapons were just to show that they were not afraid."

So Emma explained, telling them that things had been a bit more intense than they had thought. By the end, Mary Margaret had a hand in front of her mouth, eyes wide, and David was frowning deeply, arms crossed in front of him. They had been aware that the town was uneasy, they weren't that oblivious, but they had been certain that things were under control. As far as they had been aware, the culminating point had been the attack on Regina's house, and Wayward Gang's shenanigans, but both had been handled properly and swiftly, nipping the situation before it could escalate. Sure things could get somewhat testy when the Serenader was involved, because it was all for Regina, but it was just people grumbling at the disruption, and Leroy's arrest had been the worst part of the drama.

"How can we help?" Mary Margaret asked, sounding resolute.

"I might have a few ideas. First...what are you going to do with that potion?" Emma asked, glancing at the offending vial.

David grabbed it, and put it back in the spice rack. "We trust you, so we're just going to put it away. You never know when it might become useful."

Emma could see the logic in it. They were going to give Regina a chance for Emma's sake, but she knew deep down they were still very wary. "Fair enough. Now come on!"

* * *

Regina looked up from her work, sensing that newcomers had crossed the threshold of her property. A week after the disaster on her house, Regina had erected a spell that would alert her to anyone who stepped foot on her grounds, no matter where in town she was. She could recognize that one person was Emma, but the other two were a mystery.

Then she remembered who Emma was meeting that morning, and her eyes widened. She didn't. She couldn't have.

Emma probably managed to wrangle two wallflowers is all; she couldn't actually think the Charmings would be so easily swayed. She needed to focus on work, and she manged to not even look outside as her curiosity was itching to have her do.

It was incredible how, in the month that they had been working, they had just managed to finish clearing the upstairs floor, and they were now working on on the main floor, which was much more damaged. She had originally been expecting that everything would've been fixed by now.

Sometimes, she felt like crying when she saw the state her house was in, and it didn't help that she could tell Henry was upset about it too. But he vehemently denied it, flashing a comforting smile to reassure her.

* * *

As she led them up the stone steps, she could hear Mary Margaret's pained gasps. Glancing behind her quickly, Emma saw that her parents hadn't really taken the time to assess the state that Regina's house had been left in before now.

"You guys have been fixing everything up by yourselves?" David asked in awe.

"Yeah; Regina, Kathryn, Jim, Ruby when she's not busy, Henry helps as much as he's able, and me," Emma explained. "Archie's been focusing his efforts on talking Marco into helping restore some of the furniture, since he's not really one for physical labour. We think he's slowly wearing him down."

They went inside, and Emma tried to think how it would look like for her parents. The last time they had seen the house, it had been an immaculate manor. It was a reminder of Regina's position and power during the curse, having the grandiose place speak for her. But now the floors were rotten scratched at with a rake pulled from the shed, walls were ripped apart, destroying the smooth white surface. Pictures were missing, furniture lay in pieces stacked in a pile, and while they had tried to clean everything up as much as they could - Regina's magic doing the brunt work - the place was a far cry from what it once was. For Henry's safety, the first thing they had done was clear the foyer of the glass, since it was the most transited area.

"Oh my," Mary Margaret breathed. Just then, Ruby walked inside from the backyard. They were depositing debris outside as to clean the rooms up, stacking what could be salvaged, and throwing out what was beyond repair.

To say she looked surprised to see the Charmings was an understatement. "Hey," she greeted tersely, unsure what their appearance meant. "What's going on?"

"We're here to help!" Mary Margaret chirpily exclaimed, and David flashed a confident and beaming smile as if to show their dedication.

A crash sounded and they all whipped around. Regina had appeared from the study. Up until a few seconds ago, her arms had been laden with trinkets that she was getting rid off, as they were damaged beyond repair. But now they laid on the ground, having been dropped when Regina saw that the impossible had happened.

Gaping, she stared between Emma and the Charmings. Breaking away from her own surprised stupor, Emma walked to her and gently led her back inside the study, saying, "I think we should talk."

The last thing she saw was Ruby asking the Charmings if they wanted to help her gather the stuff Regina had dropped.

Once the door was closed, Emma looked at her with an apologetic grimace. "I'm really sorry if you were actually just being hypothetical about having them join us, I guess I just wasn't thinking."

Regina just managed to blurt out, "How?"

Smiling a bit, Emma said, "They asked how they could help, and when I told them about this, they were jumping in the car wanting me to step on it."

Speechless, Regina just continued to search Emma's face for some kind of sign that this was a joke. This seemed impossible, the Charmings would have to be the last people on earth to forgive her, and here they were, helping her? How she managed was a mystery. Then again, Emma was proving to do the impossible time and time again. At that moment, she was with half a mind to kiss her.

But then she recalled the situation. She was currently being wooed by some mysterious being, and there was a slight chance Emma wasn't her Serenader. The situation would turn very awkward very quickly. Instead, she smiled softly. "Thank you. I'm not even sure how this happened, but right now, I don't think I should question it."

Emma nodded her head in acknowledgement and chuckled. "I just reminded them about giving people chances."

Regina snorted. "I'm probably past number fifty."

"Then maybe the fifty-first will be the charm," Emma said without missing a beat.

Not knowing what else to do, she hugged Emma. She would probably never be able to thank the woman properly for this. After a few comfortable minutes in silence, they broke apart and decided to continue with the renovation. Emma left to help Henry in the living room, where disaster had befallen his beloved gaming system. Regina stayed in the study trying to bring some order to the mess.

She felt a presence enter the room, and as she turned around, she saw that it was Mary Margaret. Taking a deep breath, she counted to ten. She could accept that they were helping, but she didn't think she would be able to handle a heartfelt conversation.

"Yes?" she prompted, seeing that the other woman was just standing, looking around.

Finally making eye contact, Mary Margaret bit her lip. "I know we've had our messy history-"

"You don't have to do this," Regina interrupted.

"No, I do, otherwise we'll just keep spiralling and I don't want my daughter to be stuck between this rift because of us," Mary Margaret insisted. "So, please, let's talk. I promise I won't turn on the waterworks, and I'll try to keep this simple."

With a flourish, Regina beckoned her to sit in the couches. "Some of them have been destroyed, but they are still functioning as good quality seats."

Mary Margaret smiled, and together they moved sat. It was then that Regina noticed that there was a new book on the coffee table, with a blue sticky note on top of it, something she clearly hadn't done. "Excuse me for a second," Regina said, going to pick up the book.

"Is this about the Serenader?" Mary Margaret asked, eyeing the book with the note and the soft smile Regina was trying to hide.

She merely nodded before focusing on the words.

**_Dear Regina,_ **

**_I'm truly sorry I couldn't return this myself, but the weekend is a busy time for me,_**

**_and I figured you would want to spend it with your family._ **

**_Besides, I don't think anyone knows about this little book borrowing, so no way for them to copy._**

**_Thank you for letting me borrow this, it was pretty helpful. I hope by the end of this,_ **

**_you will see that you're not only just a sky full of stars, but also that you're such a heavenly view._ **

**_Yours,_ **

**_Serenader_ **

Regina finished reading the message and bit her lip to stop the smile spilling into her face. Composing herself, she put the note down and looked expectantly at the other woman. "My apologies, please do continue."

Mary Margaret just smiled and said, "I missed this you."

Frowning, Regina asked, "I beg your pardon?"

"Seeing you being all smiles and soft, it's been a long while since I've seen this version of you. I got used to the vindictive Regina who would chase me to the ends of the Infinite Forest that I didn't think I'd ever get to see this you again," Mary Margaret explained.

"Well if you're feeling particularly nostalgic, I can revert back to that," Regina quipped, scrunching her nose.

Mary Margaret chuckled, looking down at her hands for a moment before meeting Regina's eyes once more. "I like this version of you better, and if this is all due to the Serenader, then consider me a fan of hers."

"It's not just her, Henry and Emma have also helped." Regina then wondered how the Charmings would react if Emma truly was the Serenader. Would they still be her fans?

"We've seen. You've got a wonderful support group here, and wanted to start by saying that I'm sorry you have been getting all this harsh treatment, even by David and me," Mary Margaret took a deep breath before adding, "I suppose that our first reaction was to treat you as a villain with no redemption, like we had gotten used to in the Enchanted Forest. But Emma has finally made us see the error of our ways."

"Only just now?" Regina dryly asked, raising an eyebrow. She had been under the impression that Emma had been trying nonstop for the past few months.

She nodded. "Yes, things escalated to the point we were so paranoid, we were going to feed Emma a potion..."

"A potion?!" Regina asked, trying to keep her voice level. "What  _kind_  of potion?"

"One that would remove any magical effects including all kinds of spells, like mind control," Mary Margaret responded, looking apologetic.

Regina was borderline furious, but she attempted to keep her response civil. "You truly think I would keep Emma under a spell for so long? Do you not realize how Henry would see me if that were true? Or how I'd lose any semblance of trust were Emma to find out once she was released of said hypothetical spell? Not to mention the amount of effort that it takes to keep a spell like that up for so long?"

Mary Margaret opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to come up with a sensible answer. "Honestly Regina, you've had some pretty backwards logic in the past to justify your wanting to kill me."

That was true enough. "I suppose so, but back then I didn't really have much motivation to keep me in the path of good."

"Yeah, Emma said that too."

It made Regina smile knowing that Emma was so in tune to her feelings and went through all the effort to explain it to her parents all for Regina's sake.

"I'm not saying that we have to become best friends now," Mary Margaret continued, "but I would like it if we could maybe start off as allies?"

"Begrudgingly," Regina murmured with a playful smirk. "But yes, I suppose this madness has gone on long enough. The past can't be changed, and I do want to move forward."

Mary Margaret looked like Christmas had come early for her. If she wasn't worried for her safety, she would've hugged Regina. As it was, she simply beamed and teased, "For the Serenader?"

If anyone had walked in at that moment, they would've been baffled at seeing the intimidating ex-Evil Queen and Snow White chuckling and giggling, respectively.

"Yes yes, I'm a softy," Regina waved it off.

"But it's good for you to open yourself up to love!" Mary Margaret said. When she had agreed to give Regina another chance, she hadn't actually been expecting it to be so easy to click with her.

Regina made a face. "Perhaps, if the town doesn't tear her to shreds."

Mary Margaret frowned. "So you still don't know who she is?"

"No. I have a few hunches, but nothing solid," Regina vaguely stated. Deciding to change the subject to something that had been nagging at her, she said, "So what happened with the potion? Emma didn't drink it, did she?"

"No, no, that little blue potion is currently in our spice rack, just in case," Mary Margaret said with a smile.

Regina looked appalled. "Blue? The potion that removes any spells from a person isn't blue, it's purple."

Mary Margaret's eyes widened. "So what is the blue potion?"

"It can be a number of things, I'd have to examine it to be certain," Regina said.

Right then, Mary Margaret was at an impasse. On one hand, if what Regina said was true, then that meant that Blue had deceived them, and they needed to find out what had been her plan all along. But for all her enthusiasm at being able to be this friendly to Regina didn't automatically make her forget who she was speaking to. For all she knew, Regina was making all of this up, and her only motive was to get rid of the potion - which undoubtedly was a threat to her as well - under the guise of it being dangerous. She trusted Blue, Blue was their ally. Regina was a tentative new venue that could blow up in their faces without any warning.

Regina meanwhile had continued speaking, "Who gave it to you?"

"Blue," she responded.

A hum was the only response Mary Margaret received in return. Regina was clearly pensive. "Well, I suppose you two trust her to know better. Anyway, there are plenty of rooms that need work, so you needn't stick around me if you don't want to."

"Nonsense!" Mary Margaret scoffed, standing up. "This room is a disaster and I'm not letting you tackle it alone. So come on."

Regina could only sigh and roll her eyes playfully. "Very well, but no hope speeches, or singing...or dancing either."

"Honestly Regina, I'm not a Disney princess," Mary Margaret pouted.

"Oh believe me dear, I'm well aware," Regina smirked. "Now, the room isn't going to clean itself out."

* * *

"So, did they give her the potion?" the figure asked Blue.

Blue scoffed. "If they had, I'd have imagined we'd be hearing about it by now."

A hum. "Quite true. It's a pity though, it would've made things so much simpler."

"And you're certain about your theory?"

The voice turned a bit snippy. "Of course I am. I can tell from her magic. You would do well to not question me."

"I just don't understand why we don't just out her as the Serenader once and for all!" Blue growled. "Imagine the shame Snow and Charming would have at seeing their daughter causing all this chaos to woo the Evil Queen."

"Patience, patience. It doesn't do to reveal all of our cards at once. The same way we planted the seed of doubt that our beloved Sheriff might not be acting out of her own volition served our purposes, so will this," he explained.

Blue acquiesced. "I trust you know what you're doing."

"Of course. Being masterful at my art is what I am known for."

Blue wanted to remind him that he was hardly known at all, but held off.

However, the man smirked. "I can see in your heart that there is thinly veiled apprehension over my claim. Not all of us are known by our real names, Reul Ghorm. But no matter, let us see how our partner is faring with our guest, shall we?"

They made their way down to the less used area of the convent. Blue had long deemed the area unsafe and the rooms the other fairies had were spacious enough, so the basement was empty, and perfect for their uses.

Well, it used to be empty. Now it housed the stolen lumber and equipment, but they weren't interested in that. No, they made their way across to one of the rooms, where a man stood outside, his arms crossed.

"Well it's about time," he growled. "I can't be seen here, it'll look highly suspicious."

"Relax, I just need to borrow the glove," the first man said in a chillingly calm voice, holding his hand out. The requested item was placed on his palm, and he smirked. "Excellent. If you wish to leave, I'll have it back to you tomorrow."

"It's yours anyway," the second man shrugged, taking his leave.

Once they were alone again, he opened the door and gave a small bow. "After you, m'lady."

Blue rolled her eyes at the fake chivalry, but went inside anyway. Inside, sitting in a cot, was Mr. Nelson.

"Blue! Oh thank goodness, I've been here for at least a day and-" Mr. Nelson paused as he saw a man enter behind her. While Blue usually bought an air of calm and peace, now she was giving off dark and cold vibes, but he had ignored that at seeing a familiar face. But the man a little ways off to the side didn't bode anything good for him.

When Jason Nelson first agreed to go with the Wayward Gang, he had seen it as a way for him to help the town and avoid problems. He had always been a man to stick to himself, never getting involved in politics or the happenings in this world or the past one. Certainly he preferred his old home, but he had been slowly coming to terms with the new one. Of course, it would be easier without the madness, and with having his materials, so he went along so that he could go back to his work in peace. If someone wanted him after taking his stuff, then he was guaranteed to be safe, because he was needed alive and able. But seeing his real captors made him somewhat weary about his earlier assumption.

"I don't believe we've met," Nelson said when no answer was forthcoming from either of the newcomers.

"We haven't, but we've probably seen each other around town. But that's not important. What is important is the work you're going to do for us," the man said.

"Oh really? And what might that be?" Nelson raised his eyebrow, crossing his arms in front of him.

"Boxes. I would need as many boxes as you can make," the man explained with a gleeful smirk.

Nelson unwisely decided to test his limits. "And I should do this why?"

"I would do as he says," Blue warned him.

"You may have me locked up because I came willingly, but don't think for a minute that I will make boxes for you out of my own free will," Nelson spat, standing up. He didn't cut a very impressive figure. In his older age, he had lost many of the more well-defined muscles in his arms, but he did have his willowy height going for him.

The smirk turned predatory. "I was hoping you would say that."

Next thing Nelson knew, the man's gloved hand was in his chest, and when it was gone, he collapsed to the floor heaving in great gulps of air. He  _felt_  that his heart was gone, and clutched at his chest.

"You don't question me because I am not one to be trifled with, old man. You are mine, and I will not be stopped or hindered because of your attitude. Do we have an understanding?"

"Yes," Nelson gritted his teeth.

"Excellent. As you are new, I will be lenient and let you off with a warning. I know you think you can get away because I need you alive, but don't underestimate me," the man squeezed the appendage the slightest bit, getting Nelson to gasp out in pain, "I will make you suffer if that's what it takes, am I clear?"

Nelson could barely get the words out, but he managed, "Crystal."

"Good, now stand up." After Nelson did so, his heart was replaced, and the man patted his chest, right above his heart twice. "Any questions?"

Deciding to go along with it, Nelson decided to talk shop. "How big should the boxes be?"

The man considered the question for a bit. "Well you do need to make all the boxes using only the materials you have, but essentially a little bit bigger than my fist."

At Nelson's frown, he clarified, "or, if you want to be technical, big enough to house a heart in it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is where I leave you folks!
> 
> I wasn't going to be that cruel to poor Emma and have her drink the potion, but interesting things have been revealed...
> 
> One of the three truly bad guys has been revealed as Blue! Big silence all around, since no one was surprised. Also I only just recently made the connection that Reul Ghorm is Blue's canon actual name. Look at me being so observant.
> 
> And the Charmings are trying to repent and get behind their daughter and make up for all the shit they spewed at Regina. And sloowly coming to trust her.
> 
> Anyway! I've got to finish writing my fic for the Swan Queen Big Bang [which will be out next month!] and then I'll be posting another chapter of this fic [that's right, another double update!] then Flirting with Death, followed by a Thief in the Night!
> 
> Meanwhile, I've also joined the twitter world, so if you want to, you find me there at apples_a_day.
> 
> I'd love to know your thoughts about this chapter!


	17. Woodworkers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! Part 2 of the double update!
> 
> Things are getting exciting and we're rounding off to soon reach the reveal! Not this chapter, but I'm envisioning it to be around chapter 20. And yees I can hear everyone's groaning at having to wait until then, but I promise it'll be awesome.
> 
> Also, which one of you jokers has been rigging my iTunes to keep playing A Sky Full of Stars in an attempt to get me to update faster. Come on, fess up!
> 
> Meanwhile, the chapter! Warning for a teensy bit of violence?

The day had actually progressed quite peacefully, much to Regina's surprise.

It wasn't that she was expecting drama, but she couldn't help but be cautious and tense, expecting something to crop up with the Charmings nearby. She had no idea if something would set them off and return them right back to their previous positions of being anti-Regina.

As a precaution, she also tried to stay away from them, heading into other rooms that she certainly couldn't tackle by herself, but insisted she was fine.

Of course, the one person she couldn't lie to, was Emma. Which was exactly who she was facing when she heard the door open and turned around.

"Hey," Emma greeted shyly, waving her hand.

Regina felt herself smiling a little bit as she responded, "Hey."

"So, I'm wondering, are you seriously thinking of working yourself to exhaustion by doing this room as a one-woman team, or are you just trying to avoid my parents like the plague?" Emma asked, narrowing her eyes inquisitively.

She knew she couldn't just give Emma a placating answer, so she said the truth. "The latter. I'm somewhat paranoid that I might mess things up, and your efforts will be for naught as the Charmings get proof of my evil intentions."

"I'm sorry," Emma started, "if I had known that-"

"Don't apologize," Regina interjected. "You did something that I didn't think would be possible, at least not for another few decades, which was to get the Charmings to at least try to give me a chance to see if I can be something else apart from a villain. You have nothing to say sorry for, Emma. I'm just... worried."

"Hey," Emma said, walking closer. "If they're making you feel like this, I can probably convince them to come back another day, or that they can help just help out by spreading the word that you're not evil anymore."

Regina smiled as she imagined the Charmings hollering like town criers with news. "It's alright. I'm not exactly in a position where I can turn down help, and as long as we don't interact, then there's no chance for anything to go wrong."

"Fair enough," Emma agreed. "But I'm still not letting you work this room by yourself, so I'm diligently volunteering to help, and am not taking no for an answer."

Letting out a full laugh, Regina allowed Emma to help, and she had to admit that having her there made it all the more interesting. She would ask Regina about what some objects meant, if they had any special significance.

"You know, when I was a kid, I thought this was a bowler hat," Emma said from behind her. When she turned to look, she saw the blonde wearing a ceramic bowl upside-down over her head.

Not able to hold her laughter, she snorted in amusement. "A flattering look on you, dear."

"Right? Maybe I should wear this and see if it catches on. It might become a fashion statement."

Regina made her way over to Emma and took the bowl from her head as she quipped, "I'm sure it could, but I like you a lot more without the bowl hat."

Emma just grinned at Regina with a dopey smile, "Everyone's a critic."

Rolling her eyes, Regina went to put the bowl in a box so that they could preserve it neatly until the furniture was fixed.

* * *

By 10 pm that night, everyone was beat. They had been hard at work for most of the day, and they called it a day when Archie arrived with pizzas for everyone. He had bought extra, so his surprise at seeing the Charmings didn't last long, claiming that there was plenty for all of them.

"Any luck with Marco?" Kathryn asked.

"None, I'm sorry," he responded, flashing an apologetic look to Regina. "But I'll keep trying. I thought about maybe getting in touch with August, maybe he could convince his father..."

Emma made a hum of agreement, swallowing the bite of pizza before adding, "Yeah, he's cool with us, so I could go with you to talk to him."

"We can help too," Mary Margaret piped up. "Marco's a good friend, he might be willing to listen to us."

"Sure, we can make it a combined effort," Archie said with a warm smile.

They had agreed to meet tomorrow. August had already been released, so they could head over to Marco's shop to talk to both of them. Regina had obviously bowed out from attending, but still wished them all good luck, and then they parted ways to head home.

Well, Regina went with Emma and Henry back to the apartment, where Henry made a beeline to his room, practically dragging his feet. His two mothers just collapsed onto the couch, neither ready to go to bed quite yet.

"I feel bad making him work like this," Regina commented after a few minutes of silence. Emma didn't need to ask who she was referring to.

Emma smiled a bit at her. "I know you do, but trust me when I say that he  _wants_  to do this. He wants to help. If it's to make you happy, Henry will be first in line. He loves you Regina, and I bet he would try to redo your entire house by himself if he could, and even now when he can't, he still tries."

Regina couldn't disagree, so she nodded and smiled. "Much like someone else I know."

Frowning, Emma turned to look at her roommate. "Who? The Serenader?"

With a hum, Regina said, "I was actually thinking more along the lines of you, Emma. But anyway, I should be heading to bed."

Before Emma could finish processing what Regina had said, the brunette had gotten up from her seat, only to move and place a kiss on Emma's cheek. "Good night."

"...Good...night, yeah," Emma distractedly murmured. What was that all about? Did Regina know?

* * *

The next morning didn't allow for much more thinking on Emma's part, since Archie had decided on an early start to their plan. Why, she couldn't discern. In Emma's mind, early mornings were to wake up, not be social. Having to do so felt like it was going to be against the natural order of things, like putting milk before the cereal. It just didn't work.

Plus, she doubted that Marco or August would be more likely to accept a proposal in the early hours of the morn. They were probably going to throw a cabinet at their heads for showing up so early. But Emma didn't have the strength to fight with Archie, so at nine on the dot, she was meeting him outside Granny's, where he was already talking to her parents, his characteristic black umbrella in hand.

"Good morning, Emma!" Mary Margaret cheerfully greeted.

Her response was a quick quiver of her lips that she hoped passed as a polite smile. Emma clearly didn't get those genes.

Thankfully, David was a bit more understanding, though no less chipper, going to swing an arm around Emma's shoulders to draw her close, making Emma stumble. "Oh let her wake up at least, Emma looks like she hasn't slept at all."

Well that part was mostly true, Emma didn't get much sleep, trying to decipher Regina's kiss on her cheek and the cryptic response. Did she like Emma back? What did this all mean? Emma had spent most of the night before she conked out of exhaustion trying to find a reason why Regina would say or do any of it.

"Kinda still tired from yesterday," Emma succinctly explained. "Let's just get going."

They agreed, and together, they made their way to Marco's shop. They entered the garage-like place, where the father and son duo were already waiting. August flashed Emma a friendly smile, before going to greet Archie with a bear hug.

"Hey man, long time no see, how've you been holding up?"

Archie returned the hug and when they stepped back, Archie said, "Pretty good; as I'm sure your father can tell you, I've been keeping busy helping the town when I can."

August nodded, seeming interested. "So what's this about? Dad was just about to tell me when you guys arrived."

"They want me to remake the furniture for the Evil Queen," Marco said, enunciating the name with enough hatred to show Emma that he would be a hard one to sway. "And I refuse to do it."

"Marco..." Mary Margaret started, voice soft. "Perhaps it's time to let that grudge go. We know it won't be easy, but I got to spend time with Regina yesterday, and she seems to have really changed, and her house needs plenty of work."

"We're fully prepared to pay," Emma added. She had quite a few choice words as for where he could shove his prejudice, but held back in favour of the supposed diplomatic route they were taking.

Mary Margaret nodded, as if she was the one helping to foot the bill. "It's good work, you don't have to interact with her if you don't want to, but we could really use your help."

"No," Marco repeated.

David decided to step up to the plate. "Gepetto," he began, clearly using the old name for familiarity, maybe even to remind him of old times, "I know this is tough. I was weary on giving Regina the benefit of the doubt, or hell, anything really. I just wanted to get home and away from this mess. But that's not possible.

"This is our world now, and there's so much that we can do and improve on, you just have to give it a chance. What do you say?"

"Come on, papa," August added encouragingly. "If they're all vouching for her, how bad can she be?"

Marco looked at all of them as if they had grown two heads. "You are all insane! Completely out of your minds, she has taken over all of you, and I refuse to be taken as well!"

"Well I don't think you have much of a choice," a new voice said. The Wayward Gang had arrived.

Emma frowned and looked between the men at the threshold looking halfway between scared shitless and determined. "What's going on? Do you guys need a new cabinet?"

"We need Marco," Maps said, brandishing his knife.

"Marco?" Emma repeated in disbelief. "What, Nelson wasn't enough?"

"Clearly not," Colin added, voice trembling ever so slightly.

Enough was enough, and Emma had to put her foot down. "I'm not letting you guys take him."

"We're sorry, Sheriff, but we must," Maps said, before yelling out, "Charge!"

The five gang members bolted to where Marco stood, but Emma also moved, trying to shoulder check at least one of them. She managed to make contact with Trevor, overpowering him with her stature. She looked up and saw that her parents each were holding one of Colin's wrists, and August had overpowered Nick.

Logan however, had knocked Archie out with his own umbrella, while Map had cornered Marco against a corner. "Come with us old man, and we won't hurt you."

Emma was cursing having gone out without her gun, but she had to protect Marco. So she let go of Trevor and rushed to try and overpower Maps. But Maps had been expecting her, so he swung around, knife in hand, managing to make a cut on Emma's left arm from her shoulder to her elbow, curving around the muscle.

With a sharp hiss, Emma froze, leaving her open for Maps to deliver a solid kick to her stomach, sending her backwards onto some furniture. She tried to find purchase and grab onto something, but she only managed to drag everything down with her, including a table, a cabinet, and a grandfather clock. She tried to budge but it just proved to be too much weight for her; she was stuck, and she could barely move or see what was going on.

"Sorry Sheriff, it's nothing personal," Maps said from somewhere above her.

"Fuck you," Emma managed to spit out before finding herself loosing consciousness.

Meanwhile, the Charmings were not going to take this without retaliating.

"Oh no you don't!" David growled, letting go of Colin's wrist and heading to Maps and Emma.

But Colin used that to his advantage, twisting around and drawing his switchblade, placing the edge against Mary Margaret's throat. "Not another move."

David paused, putting his hands up placatingly. Even August had paused, leading Nick to elbow him in the gut, making August double over, while Logan delivered a final kick to August's good shin, toppling him to the ground due to his lack of balance on the wooden leg.

"Let us go, or your wife gets it," Colin murmured, clearly not bluffing as Mary Margaret whimpered when the blade was pressed further against her skin.

Seeing that he could do nothing, David acquiesced. "Very well. But if I ever find you hooligans again, you will regret it."

Maps scoffed, and then ordered, "Let's move out. We have what we came for. If anyone follows us, we won't hesitate to gut you."

* * *

Ruby had been manning the diner, taking care of the late Sunday morning shift, when her phone started buzzing like mad. She recalled that she had rerouted the Station's phone, and apparently, had forgotten to undo it. So she answered, pausing her current task.

"Storybrooke PD, what's your emergency?" Ruby greeted in a professional voice.

A motley of childish voices began yelling out, and Ruby had to break it up. "Whoa whoa, one at a time, what's going on?"

"Please help us, our dad's been kidnapped!" Ruby recognized the voice, Ava.

"Yeah, this brute came and took dad away, saying he'd hurt us if he didn't come with with him," Nick added, sounding much younger than his age.

Ruby heard the beep of another call coming in, so she told the two children she'd be there in a few minutes, and hung up, first checking on the other caller before she bolted out.

"Storybroo-"

"Ruby, you've gotta come quick, we were attacked." David. He sounded out of breath, and dare she say it: panicked.

"I'm on my way, I've got another emergency to deal with first. I'll send someone else over. Is everyone else okay? Do you need an ambulance?"

"We've already called an ambulance," David reassured her.

"Okay, be there in a bit, I'll get Emma to-"

"Ruby, Emma's with us," David said sombrely.

"Is she-?" Ruby wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"She's unconscious, under a pile of furniture, and probably also hurt. We're at Marco's."

Ruby then decided she knew who else to call. She hung up with David and then dialed a less-used number as she started removing her apron and giving Granny an apologetic look. Granny gave her a gruff nod of approval, and Ruby headed out towards Michael's place.

"Ruby? What's wrong?"

"Regina, something has happened. I need you to head to Marco's, Emma's hurt-"

Hearing a click, Ruby looked at her phone to see if the call had fallen due to bad reception, but saw that she had been hanged up on.

Not even a few seconds later, right in front of Marco's garage, a cloud of purple smoke appeared, bringing a very shaken Regina Mills.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now to wait!
> 
> Regina kissed Emma on the cheek oooooh~
> 
> And Marco was abducted! As well as Michael! This guy clearly needs more manpower, hmmm...
> 
> Meanwhile I'll be updating a Flirting with death, followed by A Thief in the Night!
> 
> As always, I love hearing your thoughts, so leave a review!
> 
> Also, yesterday I came up with an idea for a sequel for this fic, so that's a thing that'll be happening!


	18. Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More than 8 months!
> 
> I'm super sorry for the delay folks, I've been trying to update this as quick as I could, but I had a lot of things to take care of first, including other fics, and life.
> 
> Anyway! We had left off at a crucial moment and I don't want to detract from that.
> 
> For those of you who have forgotten, Emma, the Charmings and Archie [with some help from August] were trying to convince Marco to give up his vendetta and to help with Regina's house renovation when the Wayward Gang attacked, quite literally, and took Marco. Michael [Nicholas and Ava's dad] was also kidnapped, where our baddie might want them to join Mr. Nelson in carving out wooden boxes to hold hearts.
> 
> Meanwhile the Serenader is just a few short stanzas away from the big finale!
> 
> Let's see what happens.

* * *

Regina barely had time to survey the scene before she rushed inside to where she heard Mary Margaret calling for Emma, while David was trying to lift a huge grandfather clock from where she suspected Emma was lying beneath.

"Here, let me," Regina cut in, barely touching David's arm as she silently got him to step back. She decided to not comment on the reddish welt on Mary Margaret's neck. Right now, her friend needed her.

She took a deep breath, focusing, and lifted the cabinet and the clock from the ground, as well as pushing a table to the side. Regina would vehemently deny that she let out a sigh of relief at seeing Emma there. She was unconscious and there was an angry line of blood running down one of her biceps, but otherwise, she looked fine.

"Emma!" Mary Margaret rushed up to her, with David at her heels, while Regina put the furniture down and off to the side. She heard the ambulance's wail coming closer and took the opportunity to see if she could glean what had happened from her surroundings. On the other side of the room, Archie was sitting against the wall talking to August, who was just lying on his back. Whoever attacked them was gone, but had clearly left everyone battered.

"Dare I even ask what happened?" Regina finally inquired, finding she could no longer keep quiet.

David turned to look at her, looking exhausted. "Wayward Gang attacked."

Before Regina could get more details, the paramedics had arrived with two ambulances, and Regina kept to the back. She saw the looks she was getting, and knew she'd be doing no favours to anyone by making them nervous. They were taking Emma and Archie on stretchers, while one paramedic helped August to one of the ambulances by having August lean on him. The Charmings denied needing to be taken in as patients, but they wanted to be there for Emma, and asked the paramedic they were talking to if they could ride along. She shook her head. Regina was sure the paramedic's name was Emily, but she never bothered to keep track.

"I'm sorry your Majesties, but only one of you can come with the ambulance. It's already pretty tight, and one ambulance is full," Emily said.

David, ever the noble one, quickly volunteered his wife. "You go with Emma, I'll take the truck and take Regina too."

Regina did a double-take at being mentioned. She was sure everyone had forgotten her presence. "I can travel by magic," she tried to counter.

"Nonsense. Come on." David left no room for arguments, so Regina followed him, while the ambulances drove away, sirens wailing.

The truck had been left at the Charmings' apartment, so they had to walk a few blocks.

"I can magic us there," Regina tried once again.

"I thought we could use this time to talk," David said as way of response, and Regina felt dread creeping up.

Of course there was an ulterior motive. She knew the Charmings had given in too easily to their truce with her, and now that Emma was unconscious... "What did you want to talk about?"

David seemed pensive for a bit before he said. "This entire situation."

When he didn't add more, Regina decided she didn't want to beat around the bush, and prompted, "Which one? The one where your daughter was attacked by a group of delinquents you are hell-bent on rehabilitating even though you believed I'm beyond saving up until yesterday? Or the one where your pals and allies have made my life a living hell for the past few months? Where I have to fear every day of getting attacked and harassed because they can't curb their violent tendencies while I must act like a saint lest I be seen as plotting everyone's demise? Not to mention fearing for Henry being caught in the crossfire because he is beside me. Pray tell Charming, what situation did you want to talk about?"

He stopped and put his hands in his pockets - a move that was eerily similar to Emma's - before taking a deep breath and looking down. "Okay, I admit I deserved that answer."

Regina also stopped walking, and her glare was still on at full power. She had let Mary Margaret off easy yesterday because she wanted to avoid conflict, but a fury had awakened in her at seeing that her friend had been attacked, and David wouldn't be getting the same treatment. "You deserve _a lot_ more for all that you and your wife let slip by. Your daughter is the Sheriff, she is in charge of protecting this entire town and yet she has to be focusing on protecting me only, letting other crimes slip by, because of your ineffectiveness. Do you know how guilty that makes me? Especially knowing that this is the third time she's gone to the hospital recently? This is madness, and she's hanging on by a thread. She may not say anything, but I know your daughter, and she won't be happy if things continue like this. So get your act together, because otherwise this town will go to hell in a hand-basket, and I can assure you, I won't be responsible for any of it. That will be all on _you_."

She turned around and stopped to catch her breath after her tirade, fully prepared to teleport herself out of there and to the hospital, but David piped up, "Wait."

Sighing, and praying to some higher power to grant her patience, she turned back around. "What?"

"We know we're in the wrong. Emma told us as much yesterday when we were about to give her the potion, and Mary Margaret and I spent all night talking about this, after being in your house and seeing all we let slip by while we blindly tried to search for a way home, and even the short conversation you two had."

Regina, never one to bite back the snark, commented, "Well I'm happy to know I can still cause Mary Margaret to lose her sleep after all these years."

David gave her a look but ignored the comment, in favour of continuing what he was trying to say. "What I'm getting at is that we want to make this up to you. We had been planning on doing this over lunch with Emma as mediator, but Mary Margaret and I feel the same way."

"Can we do this after we find out how Emma is?" Regina countered, not wanting to deal with this right away. Her mind was on Emma, and how battered she looked.

"Of course," David agreed, and they silently went over to his truck, and he drove them to the hospital.

* * *

After finding Mary Margaret, she gave them a report. Emma was fine, Maps had thrown some poppy dust on her to make her fall asleep, but apart from the knife cut, she had suffered no internal damage or concussions from the attack, just a few bruises from the impact. She just had to stay a few hours for observation while the poppy's effects left her system. Mary Margaret continued talking about how Archie did have a minor concussion and August had sprained his ankle a bit, but Regina wasn't paying attention. She stepped off to the side and called Henry, who was alone at home after she teleported to heed Ruby's call.

He sounded very relieved to get an update, once again promising to stay home and to not open the door to anyone. She was wary of leaving him alone, but there was no one else she trusted to stay with him right now.

When she ended the call, Ruby showed up.

"What did I miss?" she asked, breathless. "Who attacked you guys?"

David answered, "The Wayward Gang did, and they got Marco. No one was seriously injured, so we'll live to fight another day. What was the emergency you were taking care of?"

Ruby let out a weary breath. "Michael's gone. He was taken by someone dressed in a black hoodie."

"The Serenader?" Mary Margaret asked, astonished.

"Anti," Ruby corrected. "What could someone do with three woodworkers, and Nelson's entire inventory and supplies?"

"Nothing good," Regina responded, dread rising.

They decided to wait until Emma was awake, though personally, Regina wished they wouldn't pile all of this onto her friend. Emma needed rest, she needed to recuperate, not deal with a lunatic who had hell-knows what plan up their sleeve.

A nurse approached them, clearing her throat. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but Emma's awake, if you want to see her?"

They all piled into the room, and Regina figured that no one wanted to tell them that they should visit one or two at a time. Emma was sitting up on her bed, propped up by two pillows, looking somewhat pale, but she looked happy at seeing everyone.

"Hey," Emma greeted the visitors with a shaky smile. "Did we win?"

Mary Margaret let out a strangled sob and engulfed Emma in a hug. "Oh honey, we were so worried about you."

Emma gave her mother an awkward pat on the back. "Didn't I just get knocked out with poppy dust? Or that's what I was told at least...did something bad happen?"

David shook his head. "Apart from Marco being taken, not really."

It was an unspoken agreement that they wouldn't overwhelm her right away.

"Mary Margaret, you can let me go you know? This isn't the worst injury I've had recently," Emma said after a few minutes where her mother refused to move.

"And that's what makes it worse. You shouldn't have to suffer all of this, especially so often," Mary Margaret countered tearfully, and Regina wondered if Mary Margaret had been somehow listening in on her conversation - to put it simply- with David. And then she remembered that she stepped away to call Henry, David must've told his wife everything.

From over Mary Margaret's shoulder, Emma gave Regina a pleading look, and the latter stepped in. "Mary Margaret, perhaps you should let your daughter breathe."

Letting go of her as if shocked, Mary Margaret looked scandalized at her daughter. "Oh I'm so sorry Emma! I didn't mean to literally suffocate you, I know we have been a little bit overwhelming lately but-"

"It's fine," Emma cut in with a reassuring smile. "So, does anyone want to tell me what the hell is going on?"

* * *

"We could give her the potion now," Blue suggested, placing her clasped hands over her desk. "I made more just in case the Charmings failed, and she is at her most vulnerable."

"It wouldn't do us any good now. She's probably being protected by her parents and the witch right now, and we don't want to force our hand to the point we lose our advantage," the other figure in the room said.

Blue scoffed. "We could recruit Whale and get him to remove everyone so I can administer it."

"Patience, my dear. Whale isn't the only doctor in the hospital, and there are nurses out and about. No, it would be too risky. Besides, Emma Swan's heart is much more valuable with the magic still in her. So we can wait. And now that we have the additional hands to work on the boxes, we can take our time to perfect our plan, rather than rush into it."

In Blue's opinion, they were losing a prime opportunity, but she wasn't dumb enough to anger her powerful boss.

Suddenly, the door opened and someone else barged in. The third member of their troop. "Town Hall Meeting is being hosted in an hour for an impromptu emergency session."

Blue looked towards their leader. This couldn't bode well.

* * *

The hall was packed. Thanks to Ruby, word had spread fast, and everyone was curious as to what could be happening. People whispered their surprise at seeing the Charmings standing in the front, beside the Mayor and Sheriff, though the latter did look worse for wear. Her jacket was ripped at the arm and she looked like she had seen better days, haggard and pale.

When the clock struck the hour, everyone quieted, and Emma stepped up to the microphone. "Wow, everyone came. Well, thank you all for coming on such short notice, and I apologize for how I look, I was attacked earlier once again, so I had a brief stint in the hospital, but anyway, that's not why I'm here. Right now, I want to turn the microphone over to- my parents."

Her pause before 'my parents' wasn't really noted by the general population, figuring it was just her exhaustion peeking through. But for Regina, it was notable that Emma still wasn't too comfortable with the title, but now wasn't the time for semantics. The Charmings had taken the stage, and although Regina knew what they were going to say, she wasn't going to miss hearing this for the world.

Mary Margaret cleared her throat, and began her discourse. "Hello everyone; as Emma said, thank you for coming. We wanted to call this meeting as soon as we could, because as we were informed recently, things have gotten out of hand. Yesterday, I got a chance to look inside Regina's mansion, and what I saw broke my heart. My eyes have been opened to the violence that we have all allowed to happen because we were angry and confused.

"At first, I could understand. We had been living lives which weren't our own for 28 years, and it's not easy to readjust once again. But look at us. How did we let ourselves get like this? As Emma said: how can we claim to be the epitome of good when we treat someone with such hatred? This isn't us, and we're better than this. It took me way too long to realize it, and meanwhile, I was letting my daughter take the brunt of the hits that she shielded Regina against, because _she_ wasn't blinded by hate. And it took me trying to do the unthinkable, thinking of feeding a potion to my daughter, before I realized what I had let this become, and everything finally clicked.

"This town has descended into chaos, and it's high time we did something about it. I hope you will all join me as well. And that is why I am publicly going to forgive Regina. What she did by casting the curse might have been a blessing in disguise. Life is better here, we just have to choose to see it. There's no point in yearning for an idealized version of our old lands, which I now believe are truly gone. Storybrooke takes the best parts of our old lives and makes them safer. We don't have to contend with ogres or lack of plumbing. Life can be good here, if we just stop vying to reach something outdated. So join me in building a new life for Storybrooke."

She stepped to the side and allowed David to speak. "Well, Mary Margaret covered everything that I could have wanted to say. So I'll just add this. We are going to be opening a rehabilitation center in a few days with the help of volunteers, where everyone is encouraged to come so they can fill out a census form, and inform us if you'd like to change your name or your profession. This is our Storybrooke. We can make it our own, and better than before, thanks to Regina. So I for one, would like to apologize to her as well. If you disagree, or think we're out of our minds or being controlled, you're more than welcome to swing by the center too, and we can rectify this paranoia once and for all."

The applause that followed was astounding. Regina's eyes prickled with the feeling of tears, but she blinked them away. Things were finally working out.

For the ending remarks, Emma once more took to the stage. "I welcome everyone to stay for a while and talk to us if you have any questions and to learn more about the center. If for whatever reason you are still a staunch believer we're all under some spell and this is the initiation of Evil R Us, there's the door."

Unbeknownst to the audience, there was another reason for the meeting. To the side, Henry sat on the edge of the stage, legs dangling, as he wrote on his notebook. Beside him on the floor, Ruby leaned against the stage. To the ordinary viewer, it would've looked like Ruby was providing security and protection to Henry while he worked on his homework, but in reality, he was writing down the names of everyone that left the meeting early, with Ruby subtly identifying who was leaving, and if they were angry.

The conclusion the heroes reached was that the Anti-Serenader hated Regina and was planning something big. If they could catch them in the act before things got out of hand, then they could avoid a crisis. And what better way to narrow down the list than by having the Charmings say their piece on forgiving Regina? They would surely leave incensed.

"Okay so I've got a big crowd leaving, all of them angry: Blue, Dr. Whale, Leroy, Dr. Mathias, Sidney, Jeff, and Gold doesn't look too happy either." Ruby chanced a glance and noted happily that Granny was talking to the Charmings. She'd hate to have to add her own grandmother to the list.

At the end of the day, the heroes had a plan. Regina refused to do any further planning with Emma still recuperating, so they decided it was best to gather tomorrow. The Charmings were going to set up the center inside the Town Hall, in an unused large meeting room on the other side of the building, that way they needn't spend time searching for a location.

The Charmings and Ruby said their good-nights and parted ways with Emma, Regina and Henry, everyone heading to their respective homes, hoping tomorrow would be as successful as today had been.

Once they reached the apartment, Henry headed to sleep at Regina's insistence - tomorrow was a school day after all - and she hoped Emma would go follow so she could rest and recuperate.

"Regina, I wanted to ask you something," Emma tried. Unbeknownst to Regina, the singular thought of the kiss on the cheek had been plaguing Emma, and she wanted an answer.

But Regina wasn't having any of it. "Whatever it is, Emma, it can wait until tomorrow."

Emma scoffed softly. "But I have to wake up tomorrow to help with the rehabilitation center."

"Then lunch. Now I need you to go to sleep and rest. Promise we can talk tomorrow." And so Emma reluctantly shuffled to her room, where she fell asleep the minute her head touched the pillow.

* * *

The next day, Regina couldn't decide whether the butterflies in her stomach were nerves or excitement. The Serenader was going to continue her messages, but at the same time, Regina was cautious as to what the Anti-Serenader could be up to. Her thoughts kept her so distracted, she barely noticed anything as she walked up the walkway to work. It was only after she walked through the doors and was ready to climb the stairs to her office that she realized something was different.

Well, there were a few things that were different. First and foremost was that Town Hall was actually busy, with a line of people already formed waiting for their turn for the rehabilitation center. But that wasn't what held her attention. It was that every person was holding a yellow paper star. She quickly approached the last person in the line, and cleared her throat. "Excuse me?"

The woman startled and then looked at her. The reflexive need to flinch appeared for a quick second, and then it was gone. "Oh! Your- Mayor Mills! Is there a problem?"

Regina flashed a polite smile and shook her head. "No, I was just wondering: where did you get that star?"

"Right by the entrance. You can't miss it," she responded, pointing towards where she had found it.

With a quick thank you, Regina made her way to where the woman indicated, and sure enough, there was a stand that she had completely bypassed. It was a simple metal wire stand, meant to hold magazines, but instead was holding a pile of cardboard paper stars. On top of the stand, where the title of the publication would go, a sign was glued to it, reading:

_**If you want to make someone's day, take a star.** _

She grabbed one, and turned it in her hands. On the back of the star, she could see the next lyrics.

_**'Cause in a sky full of stars** _

She had a goofy smile on her face all the way to her office, and when she opened the door to the darkened room, she found the Serenader standing there in the middle, holding a bag. When she saw Regina, she opened the bag and what seemed like dozens of glow in the dark stars flew out to float around the room. She could only watch in wonder as the Serenader plucked a card with a star glued to it floating near her, and walked up to Regina, handing it to her. She grabbed it and read the next lyrics:

_**I think I see you** _

Before Regina could greet her or even thank her, the Serenader said, "You know, if I ever doubt as to whether or not I'm doing the right thing, or whether this will work out, all I have to do is look at you, see your vibrant smile, and know that I'm responsible for this."

Regina let out a soft laugh, and then gave her a soft kiss on where she hoped her lips were. She landed on her chin, but she quickly rectified and found their rhythm.

Once they parted, Regina said, "This is beyond wonderful, thank you." Then she held up the paper star in her other hand. "Did you spent your entire weekend cutting these out?"

"Not exactly. Duplicating spell," the Serenader corrected.

"I'm impressed, you've really got the hang of your magic," Regina commented, glancing at the still floating stars. "Maybe by the time we're done with these, you won't really need me to teach you anything."

The Serenader scoffed. "I doubt it. I have lots to learn. Plus some spells are tough. And I suppose congratulations are in order. I heard the Charming's rousing speech yesterday, you're finally on your way to getting your full pardon."

Regina nodded, looking away. Then she looked back up as she asked, "You were there?"

"Of course. Wouldn't have missed it; I kept glancing at you, and saw that you were trying to keep your neutral facade but you were beaming."

She couldn't help but wonder if the Serenader noticed that because Emma had been beside her. Maybe she had been sneaking in glances while her parents spoke, and currently stood in front of her, hidden. But she only had a few days more to go, and she wanted to see how this would end. "I suppose it was a force of habit. Speaking of, do the Charmings know that you've added the paper stars?"

The Serenader cleared her throat. "Not exactly. They might have turned a new leaf, but I figure I should keep my list of allies close. Wouldn't want to find out they aren't so fond of the Serenader and have them rescind their apology."

Although Mary Margaret didn't seem to be against the Serenader idea the other day, it was a wise decision to not take it for granted. "Fair enough. Thank you for all of this, it was a lovely way to start the morning."

"Of course, as I hoped it would be," there was a smile in the Serenader's voice, and it just made Regina's stomach flutter with butterflies. But then it seemed she noted the time and cleared her throat. "Well Madam Mayor, I'm sure you have to get back to your job-" the Serenader was paused with a swift kiss from Regina.

"That I do, but I wish I could just keep you around somehow. I suppose you have a job of your own as well?" Regina asked.

"You're fishing again," the Serenader playfully riposted, calling the stars once again into the bag, and handed it to Regina for her to keep. "Only a few days more and your curiosity will be sated."

Regina just rolled her eyes and even let out a groan, grabbing the bag. "Well it was worth a try."

The Serenader gave her a kiss on the cheek and said, "Points for trying," before disappearing in a cloud of white smoke.

Not even a few minutes later, after she had opened the curtains and settled in her desk, Kathryn appeared, looking entirely too smug as she held the paper star. "I'm going to guess you saw these?"

Regina nodded, before holding up the card with the glow in the dark star that had been resting nearby. "Yes, and had a visit from the Serenader too."

"Do tell!" Kathryn excitedly exclaimed, gesturing for them to sit by the fireplace sofa.

But before they could even make their way over, Mary Margaret burst inside, all too enthusiastic as she greeted, "Regina! Did you see- oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."

"That's quite alright. What is it? Is there a problem?" Regina asked politely.

"Oh everything's fine. All of the visitors had these in their hands and as soon as I had a chance to take a break, I came to ask if you had seen this."

Regina smiled at the yellow star Mary Margaret was holding. "I have."

"The Serenader visited too!" Kathryn piped up enthusiastically, and Regina wondered when Kathryn became so friendly to Mary Margaret that she would easily blurt out this information. Later she would find out they had met at the diner yesterday night by coincidence while dining with their respective spouses, and shared an enlightening conversation that would eventually lead to a blossoming friendship.

But back to the present, Regina was now faced with two eager women keen on finding more about her morning meeting with the Serenader and the next message, so she complied. They were practically squeeing by the time she was done regaling the tale.

They asked a dozen questions, and she answered them as best as she could. Granted, some of the more personal questions revolving her feelings were glossed over; she still wasn't fully ready to become Mary Margaret's friend. She could accept her as an ally, and she knew the woman was trying, so the same was the least Regina could do in return.

Mary Margaret was being a good sport; if she noticed the lackluster answers, she didn't comment. When Kathryn excused herself to answer the phone, Regina couldn't hold off on saying, "Thank you, for being supportive with this."

"Well of course I'm going to be supportive. After...being the main cause of losing your first love, which led to this entire decades-long debacle, I figure that being supportive this time around is the right thing to do."

Regina nodded slowly, swallowing a lump in her throat. "The right thing...but not what you want?"

"That came out wrong." Mary Margaret cringed. "I mean that I want you to be happy Regina. I'm happy that someone was able to show you that you can love again. You deserve it, more than anyone else that I know."

A soft smile sprang up on Regina's face. She had no idea how much she needed to hear that. "Thank you...so you truly do forgive me?"

"Of course Regina. I meant every word I said yesterday." And that made all the difference. Things were finally looking up.

But of course, that never truly lasted in a place like Storybrooke.

* * *

It was nearly lunch time and Emma was nervous.

As part of her recuperation process, she had been regaled to security for the rehabilitation center, just in case anything happened. It was basically a glorified way of saying that she should rest and sit on a chair behind a table for five hours and do nothing but smile and vaguely listen to all the stories the visitors told as they came in, but she at least didn't have to be in bed for the entire day. She'd rather have been trying to hunt down the Wayward Gang, but Ruby was in charge of that. She tried to argue, but considering everyone from Regina to her parents had decided that she shouldn't exert herself after such an attack from yesterday, it was a moot point. And if she had to be honest, her body hurt like hell, so she was happy for the reprieve, apart from the fact that she personally wanted to be the ones who arrested those clowns. But Ruby had been texting her every hour, saying she had no luck reaching them anywhere. They weren't at home, or in their store, not even by the cannery.

With the lack of news, she tried to focus on what she was in charge of. Like her Serenader project. She saw everyone carrying the stars, the word spreading about the Serenader's newest lyric, and smiled. Regina had seemed so happy with the star in her hand, and she had been even happier when Emma brought out the glowing stars with the message. It made her beam to know she had made this come true. Plus the kisses were an added bonus she couldn't get enough of.

What had been surprising was that Mary Margaret seemed beyond ecstatic at the paper stars too. She had even excused herself to go talk to Regina about it, and she came back even happier than before, giving Emma a condensed version of the next lyrics. "I'm so happy for her!"

But now Emma's happiness was replaced with nerves. She was going to ask Regina about the cheek kiss, and she wasn't sure how she could tackle it. What if Regina hadn't made a big deal out of it? What if this gave Regina a bigger clue that she might be the Serenader? Maybe she should just ask some random question instead...no, she could do this, she just had to go grab lunch from Granny's and ask.

As she left to go fetch lunch, she was so distracted, she just followed the instinctive route out the building, and didn't even dare to glance up the stairs to Regina's office. But if she had, she would've seen a figure appearing.

Inside her office, Regina was finishing some papers before lunch. She had sent Kathryn to take a lunch break, knowing she would be having lunch with Emma instead, and she wondered what Emma could possibly want to ask. Her thoughts were interrupted as someone approached her open doorway. A figure in a black hoodie, their face obscured.

"Good afternoon Madam Mayor."

Regina looked up, and did a double-take. The Serenader had given her all of today's lyrics, and there was no reason for her to come back, not to mention she was having lunch with Emma... "And good afternoon to you. What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to give you your next lyric, isn't it obvious?" they responded, and Regina could just tell this wasn't the Serenader. If the fact that the Serenader was already done for the day wasn't enough to tip her off, their build was all wrong, and the voice...distorted or not, this wasn't her Serenader. This was the Anti-Serenader. She could just hope Emma would come soon to arrest them. Sure she could try to magically incapacitate them, but they had powerful magic, she couldn't risk it. She had to catch them unawares. So for now, she would stall.

She gave a polite smile, one that didn't reach her eyes at all. "Of course. How time flies. Well, do come in. I'm sorry to have to rush you, but I do have an important lunch date."

With a bit of bravado, the figure asked, "That's alright. Don't I get a kiss first?"

Regina made a good face of frowning deeply. "And whyever would I do that? We haven't ever kissed before, and I don't plan on starting now."

"But I heard- very well." The figure made their way inside, going to pull something out of their pocket.

But just then, Emma appeared, and her face hardened as she quickly saw what was going on. She deposited their lunches on the desk near the door quietly before she got their attention. "Hey! What the hell are you doing here?"

The figure whipped around, and just then, Regina threw the first spell that came to her mind. Chains surrounded the figure and trapped their arms at their sides, and they toppled over with the surprising lack of balance.

It felt too easy, too simple when Emma rushed inside to pull the figure up to their feet none-too-gently. Regina couldn't even process how Emma knew that this wasn't the real Serenader apart from the obvious reason. She just made her way over to personally pull down the hood.

"Maps?!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was this chapter! Plenty of antics and love going 'round. And Maps as the Anti-Serenader, what do you think? Is it really him, or a ruse?
> 
> Now, here's how this is going to work. I am going to write one more chapter of Supergirl, and then another chapter of this fic!
> 
> The best part: Next chapter will be the reveal! So look forward to that!
> 
> Love to hear your thoughts!


	19. Worth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we go!
> 
> The chapter everyone has been waiting for. Well, one of the chapters.
> 
> I'll leave the rambling for the end of the chapter, so I'll just apologize for the delay, and get started on this.
> 
> Enjoy!

Maps looked repentant, and he stuttered as he said, "Please, I swear I'm not the Anti-Serenader. I had no choice!"

"No choice? I doubt that," Emma responded, grabbing him the lapels of his hoodie. "You are going to explain everything, and you are going to do it now."

Regina's fingers tensed, tightening the chains a bit more.

"Okay! Okay I'll tell you all I know."

Not releasing him, the two women sat him down on the visitor's chair and then stood in front of him, arms crossed. In Maps' opinion, it felt pretty damn scary to be faced with the Saviour and the Evil Queen looking so angry.

"If you're waiting for an invitation to speak," Regina started after a few moments of silence, "You'll find we will wait as long as it takes."

Nodding, Maps began to explain. "I know we promised to keep in touch with you, but he found out we were talking to you! He tricked us into thinking he already knew and we let it slip...so he had us do our next mission while making sure we showed you that our 'partnership' was over. That's why we attacked you yesterday. And today...he knew that you guys were keeping an eye out for him, so he threatened to hurt my brothers if I didn't go in his stead and pretend to be the Anti-Serenader. I swear that's what happened."

Regina scoffed. "Yet again with the mysterious 'he' who is controlling you and your brothers with mere parlour tricks and vague threats. A very convenient happenstance."

"But it's the truth!" Maps pleaded.

"And I suppose you still have no idea who it is that's got you under your thumb apart from the fact he's the Anti-Serenader?" Emma asked, growing tired with the lack of answers she had.

"No. He makes sure we can't see nor remember who he is. Look, the more time I spend here, the more suspicious he's gonna be, and then Timmy will be in trouble!" He tried to stand up, but Emma just shoved him back down.

Emma shook her head. "No way. Fool me one, shame on me, fool me twice-"

"I'm not fooling you!" Maps exclaimed.

"Enough!" Regina thundered.

"You," she pointed to Maps, "have done enough damage lately. I realize you wish to protect your baby brother, it's a commendable act. But you are letting this monster walk all over you. Do you realize what you're letting happen? How many laws you've broken?"

Maps shrugged. "Well laws haven't ever been one of my problems..."

"Not a wise thing to say to a Sheriff," Emma countered. "Here is what we're going to do. You get your band of brothers all together, hearts included, and you meet me in the Station tomorrow, where I have a nice and cozy cell for you."

"No way!" Maps spluttered. "I'm not going to jail!"

Regina let out a mirthless laugh. "I don't think our dear Sheriff was leaving that up for interpretation."

"Nope." Emma shook her head. "Either you come with me now and you leave your brothers to your captor's mercy, or you rescue all of them and you can rest assured that they won't come to any harm."

"But why do we have to be locked up?" Maps fumed.

Emma gave him a look. "Well, one, because you've broken multiple laws, and two, consider it protection against the big faceless guy that's threatening your family."

Maps rolled his eyes and leant back on his chair with a groan. He deadpanned, "Yeah caging us in is totally going to protect us against the magic user, why didn't I think of that before."

Regina pursed her lips, looking very much exasperated at having to deal with such immaturity. "It's not meant to be foolproof, it's meant to be some kind of protection. And if you're worried, then stop fretting, I'll be enchanting the door so that even a magic user will have trouble just opening the door. Happy?"

Begrudgingly, Maps agreed.

Before she freed him, Regina warned, "Try anything, and we _will_ come after you."

Maps nodded, but asked, "And what will I tell him? Did I succeed?"

Regina scoffed. "As if I'd ever fall for your two-bit act. Now begone."

She undid the chains, and he scurried off as soon as he was free, avoiding eye contact, running like the devil was after him.

"You okay?" Emma asked after the door shut, turning to look at her friend.

Regina nodded. "Yes. Just trying to wrap my head around this. I want to find out who this is. Who would go through all this trouble."

"Someone with a lot of pent up anger and time to spare." Emma sighed, a tentative hand reaching out to rest on Regina's shoulder for comfort. "We'll get him, okay?"

In a very surprising move - in Emma's opinion at least - Regina burrowed herself in Emma's chest, and Emma slowly wrapped her arms around the brunette and held her close.

After a few moments of silence, Regina cleared her throat and broke from the hug. "Thank you," she said, looking anywhere but at her friend. "And I apologize for this, I just needed-"

"It's okay," Emma smiled. "You don't have to explain if you don't want to."

Regina gave Emma a grateful smile in return, and swiftly changed the subject, pointing to the forgotten lunch bags. "I believe we were about to eat, and you wanted to ask me something."

Emma nodded and went to go pick up their lunches, but internally, she was panicking. Regina was in a fragile state, she couldn't ask about the cheek kiss now.

As they sat down to eat, Emma said, "Yeah, I was wondering how you were holding up? With the changes and everything. Hopefully things are going to be much quieter now that Mary Margaret and David started the rehabilitation program. Well, Town Hall will be busier, but maybe this means the end of Group Vitriol."

"I want to hope so too. Though with the list Henry and Ruby compiled, most of the core members walked out quite angry, so I don't think it'll be what we hoped for quite yet. But this is an advance, much more than I would've thought possible a few months ago." Regina could sense this wasn't what Emma wanted to talk about at first, but she didn't press. Emma was kind enough to not push with what she knew to be Regina's touchy subjects, so it wouldn't be fair to do the same and respect Emma's change of question.

But there was one thing which was nagging her. "How did you know that this wasn't the real Serenader?"

"Oh, well if your face hadn't said it all, Mary Margaret gave me a breakdown of what happened with the Serenader when she came to visit you. And since I know the Anti-Serenader's looking to trick you, I figured it wasn't her," Emma breezily responded, and Regina nodded.

It felt too convenient, and Emma being the Serenader would make more sense, but right now, she just wanted to eat lunch in peace. So they continued talking for the rest of lunch on more menial topics, only wrapping things up when Mary Margaret all but burst inside, wondering if something was wrong because Emma had been gone for so long.

The rest of the afternoon was thankfully uneventful, and when Regina left for the day with Henry in tow, the line for the center was still going, the last of the stars being held in people's hands, just as the Serenader had wanted. It made Regina smile, and Henry knew it.

Jokingly, he rolled his eyes and said, "Come on mom, if you keep looking anymore lovesick, your reputation is gonna suffer."

Regina chuckled and wrapped an arm around Henry's shoulders, seemingly taller by the day. He was almost to her shoulder level. "I think that for this, I'm willing to let my reputation take a hit. It's worth it."

* * *

That evening, Regina was preparing dinner when she sensed magic behind her, and then she heard a throat clear behind her. She whipped around and saw the Serenader standing there, hands in her pocket as always. She was about to smile and greet her when she paused, remembering what happened earlier with Maps. Emma was still at Town Hall helping the Charmings, so if this was the Anti-Serenader, she was defenseless, and with Henry in his room studying, her priority was to protect him.

As if sensing her unease, the Serenader didn't approach her, and just said, "I heard what happened earlier...it's just me Regina."

Hearing her name said softly and with such care made her lower her defenses, her shoulders relaxing. "I apologize, I didn't mean to seem distrusting, but well, you've heard."

The Serenader nodded. "That's why I'm here...I wanted to check up on you, and I didn't want to wait until tomorrow to do so."

Regina smiled at the gesture. "That's very kind of you; barring my nerves, I'm doing fine, all things considered."

"You shouldn't have to worry so much though. How can I help?" the Serenader asked, walking closer now that she knew it was okay to do so.

"You do quite a lot already. But I suppose showing yourself on Wednesday will be a good plan to keep...I'd hate to keep waiting."

The figure chuckled and went to pull Regina closer to her. "I suppose I can make that deal."

They shared a short kiss, and when they parted, Regina just rested her head on the other woman's shoulder. This had been just what she was needing, more hugs. Perhaps even from the same person if her theory was true. "I'm glad you're here."

The Serenader gently ran her hands over Regina's back. "Of course, I'm here for you."

Regina wished they could just stay like that, but then she smelled something beginning to burn and quickly broke from the embrace to take care of dinner. Once the meal was under control, she turned back to the Serenader, who was standing right where she left her.

"I suppose I should be letting you get back to your dinner, I wouldn't want to be the cause of you having to eat charred crisps for dinner, and I'm sure Henry nor the Sheriff will like it either."

"You can always stay for dinner?" Regina offered, though she could hazard what the answer would be.

"Alas I have to get back to my other life, but I will see you tomorrow to give you your two messages, okay?"

Regina nodded and smiled. "Of course. And...thank you. For doing this."

The Serenader kissed her softly. Before she disappeared in a cloud of white smoke, she said, "Anything for you."

* * *

When Emma's alarm rang the next morning, she groaned and practically fell out of the bed. When she finally managed to sit up properly, she noted her heart was beating really fast. But it was understandable. This was it, the penultimate day of messages she had for Regina. Tomorrow, she'd be revealing herself, and hopefully not getting kicked to the curb.

However, now wasn't the time to focus on that. She had to get ready for the day and prepare breakfast. But when she got there, Regina was already well on her way with preparing breakfast...apparently for an army.

Emma paused and blinked. "What time did you get up?" she groused.

Regina bit her lip and looked guilty. "I didn't sleep. Too nervous."

"For the Serenader?" Emma asked. "Or is there some kind of potluck breakfast gathering I didn't hear about that you're providing all by yourself?"

"Too much right?" Regina looked around the kitchen. "Well, it's not all breakfast, I made cookies and a few quiches, some empanadas, and there's a cake too, plus a few more things I did with leftover ingredients."

Emma did a double take at the extensive list of food. "Are you okay?"

Regina sighed. "Not really. When I'm nervous and anxious I like to distract myself. In the Enchanted Forest I'd usually burn down a forest or something, but here it has long changed to become a baking opportunity."

Emma nodded slowly. "Gotcha. Well at least we have enough food for the next decade."

Regina gave her a look for her sass, but Emma could see the underlying smile. "Funny. Now get started on coffee and I'll go wake Henry."

As Emma got the coffee pot going, she realized Regina completely avoided answering what she was nervous about. After they finished breakfast, Emma took a chance to ask while she waited for Henry to finish getting ready.

"So, what are you nervous about?" Emma asked.

"Apparently, Group Vitriol attacked Town Hall last night," Regina said slowly. At seeing Emma's face, she quickly amended, "No one was hurt. Ruby managed to arrest Leroy, Jeff and Whale, and is looking to press charges against them."

Emma was shocked, and went to check her phone to see if she had somehow missed a call. There was nothing. "How come I wasn't notified?"

Regina looked a bit guilty as she admitted, "I may have instructed Ruby to not disturb you while you were still recovering, and if anything happened she would call me."

"Regina, I'm fine, really," Emma reassured her, though she was touched that Regina went so far to try and make sure that she recuperated.

"Nonetheless, I wanted to make sure you were truly healed before I had you gallivanting all over town because some bitter yahoos have nothing better to do."

Emma let out an undignified snort at that quip. "Fair enough. What did they do?"

"Apparently, everything they could do before Ruby stepped in. They set fire to one of the bulletin boards outside, threw rocks at the windows, yelled and chanted throughout the whole thing, talking about how they weren't going to go down without a fight, and that they refused to believe my lies that everyone else seemed to be falling for. They were about to start their graffiti when Ruby arrived. Some others that had joined escaped but it's still a good thing she caught three members. She's hoping this might somehow lead us to the Anti-Serenader."

"Oh wow." Emma was shocked to say the least. "Let's hope it does, this group is seeming more and more unhinged as time goes by."

The conversation ended as Henry arrived, and Regina watched as Emma took their son to school, before heading to the kitchen to wrap everything up. She let Kathryn know she'd be late - though she also wasn't in a hurry see the state Town Hall was in - and set to work.

* * *

Emma walked with Henry beside her as they made their way to the bus stop. She was pensive over what had happened last night and what she had missed, making a mental note to talk to Ruby about these new developments. Her thoughts were interrupted by Henry asking, "Is mom okay?"

"Wha- yeah, she's just a bit nervous, lots of changes at once," Emma assured him.

Henry looked somewhat convinced, but his face told Emma that she could work on her delivery. But right now, Henry had to get onto the bus, so he just gave Emma a big hug, and then said, "I'm sure mom's gonna love the last messages you have. See ya!"

Emma just watched as Henry waved and ran to the bus, smiling at how wonderful and perceptive he had become. And it was all thanks to Regina.

Speaking of Regina, Emma had to get going to deliver her first message. With a quick teleportation trip to the Station storage so she could change, Emma then poofed herself to the apartment.

Regina had been in the process of drying a baking sheet when the Serenader appeared in front of her. She startled and nearly dropped the pan, but quick hands from the Serenader helped steady her grip.

"Sorry about that, I guess I should've warned you," the Serenader said apologetically.

"Maybe I should just install a bell on you," Regina quipped, setting down the cloth and the pan on the countertop. She looked long and hard at the figure in front of her, gauging as to whether or not this truly was her Serenader. The mannerisms were there, but she was still a bit paranoid.

As if reading her mind, the Serenader placatingly put her hands up and said, "It's just me. I had come to give you today's first message, but I also heard what happened overnight, are you okay?"

Regina relaxed, and nodded. "I was here at home, so I suppose only my pride was hurt at hearing that Town Hall was defaced. But we caught three of the perpetrators, so it's a win for us."

The Serenader nodded and let out a sigh of relief. "Good. It seems we're finally getting a few wins of our own. But anyway, I came to deliver these to you."

She held out two things for Regina, one on each hand. Regina took the item on the left hand first, a small envelope with the next lyrics written on it.

_** ** _

_**You're a sky full of stars** _

She opened the small envelope and in it, were a bunch of dark brown seeds. "What are these?"

"They're starflower seeds. I saw your garden had been destroyed in the attack, and I figure that once you get to return, you will want to revive it, so I bought these to get your garden started."

Regina beamed at the thoughtfulness in the gesture and gave the Serenader a quick kiss on her cheek. "Thank you."

Taking the next item, she saw it was a stock card with an invitation.

_**You're invited to a Fireworks Show. Tonight 8pm.** _

"You're really going all out today," Regina said with a smile.

The Serenader shrugged and said, "Figure I'll end it with a bang."

Regina smiled until she processed what the Serenader had said. "Don't you have one more tomorrow?"

"Yeah, but tomorrow's will be different. Tonight will be a show that I hope can astound you."

"You have been doing so for the past few weeks, I don't see this one being any different," Regina said, punctuating it with a kiss. "Though I am looking forward to finally knowing who you are tomorrow."

The Serenader let out a laugh. "A fact you won't stop mentioning. You must be desperately curious."

"Oh immensely. Where shall I meet you for this fireworks show?"

Pointing to the ceiling, the Serenader said, "The roof of this building. I have everything prepared, but no peeking!"

Before Regina could quip back, her cellphone sounded and she took Kathryn's call only to be faced with the surprised exclamations of someone who had just gotten a chance to assess the disaster that was Town Hall. She silently apologized, but the Serenader just waved it off and held up the invitation. Regina nodded and the Serenader left with a wave.

* * *

Once Emma had gotten back into her regular clothes, she went to visit Ruby at the diner so she could get a summary of what happened before going to inspect the damage at Town Hall in person. From Kathryn's call, it seemed like it was a veritable disaster.

"Morning Rubes, can I talk to you for a second?" Emma greeted once she approached the counter. "It's about the attack last night."

Ruby, who was wiping down the counter, quickly put down the rag and said, "You can have more than that. I'll explain it to you on the way."

"Don't you have to work or something?" Emma asked, watching as Ruby walked towards the end of the counter, ditching the apron.

Ruby didn't answer her at first, just hollering through the kitchen window, "I'm heading out Granny!"

"Take the crossbow!" Granny yelled back. Ruby grabbed it diligently, along with its holster, before she walked up to Emma.

"Ready to go?"

Emma blinked at the weapon. "We are going to Storybrooke Town Hall right? Not foraging and spelunking to find a Town Hall in the middle of the forest?"

"You really have no idea the state it's in do you?" Ruby said, walking out the door. "Disaster doesn't even begin to cover it."

"That bad?" Emma asked as they began walking.

"Worse. It took a while for anyone to call it in; I was only notified because Archie was walking Pongo right nearby. But by that time, things had gone haywire. There was fire everywhere, you've got the paint scraped, and all the front windows are broken. It's better you see for yourself."

They had just come around the bend, and Emma could see in the distance that Ruby was right: disaster doesn't cover it. The grass was scorched, one of the bulletin boards was missing, the only thing there were the charred remains. The front doors were crooked, and all the windows were broken. Clearly, none of the perpetrators had good aim, for the yellow siding was chipped and bumpy from the wayward rocks that didn't hit a window and instead made indents on the walls.

"Yeah, it's ugly. The firefighters helped me clear the building; every room was locked and no one was hiding inside. My guess is they were planning on taking their destruction inside right when I stepped in."

Emma spotted Kathryn standing by the remaining bulletin board, with Regina beside her. They approached the other duo, and Emma called, "I didn't realize how bad it was."

"Neither did I," Regina breathed, looking spooked. "Kathryn called me when she saw it, telling me in no uncertain terms that I had to come here and see it for myself, so here I am."

"Well it _is_ impressive, and not in the good way," Kathryn added.

Behind them, a gasp was heard, and they turned to see Mary Margaret and David standing there, the former with her hands in front of her mouth, her eyes wide as saucers. "Oh my goodness, this is preposterous! How-"

"Join the club," Ruby quipped, in an attempt to lighten the mood. "What I want to know is when I get to barge in and get these idiots processed."

"I was planning on going now..." Emma started, jerking a thumb towards the Station. "If you want to join?"

"We're coming too," David added. "This has gone too far."

Regina and Kathryn declined, deciding they would try to make sure the town knew that this wasn't going to deter them, that they would be business as usual despite this hardship.

So Ruby and the Charmings followed Emma back to the Station. When they got there, the three caught were lounging around in their shared cell.

"About time!" Whale exclaimed, straightening from his languid pose against the back wall of the cell. "I have hospital patients to attend to!"

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you vandalized Town Hall?" Emma countered.

Whale spluttered. "I didn't vandalize a single thing! None of us did! We were just trying to help the delinquents that did!"

Emma glanced at Ruby, and the latter rolled her eyes. "That's bullshit, I saw you wielding a torch running around like a maniac!"

Jeff spoke up from where he was sitting on the floor, leaning against the side wall, "Do you have any proof?"

"Eyewitness accounts!" Ruby huffed. Of course they would try to deny everything.

Leroy spoke up from where he was lying on the bunk, "Yeah, a shrink who's in the bitch's pocket, and you, who's not much better."

"Leroy!" Mary Margaret yelled, scandalized.

As if electrocuted, Leroy shot up from the cot and straightened his jacket, clearing his throat. Having been lying down, he hadn't seen that the Charmings were there, and he felt thoroughly chastised of being caught like this.

"You should be ashamed!" she continued, approaching the cell, spending a good moment making eye contact with them, the only exception being Jeff, who just kept looking at the floor. "We're trying to advance as a displaced society, but all your antics just bring us further back! Honestly, so what if we're supporting Regina? She has changed, and if you even had an _ounce_ of respect, you'd understand that this is an opportunity to do some good, rather than destroy for the sake of being complete...assholes!"

Emma was shocked at Mary Margaret's stance. She clearly was embracing this completely, and Emma couldn't be happier. She'd hate for her parents to continue acting like they had and drive the wedge between them even deeper. Thankfully they had seen the light, and now she just had to hope these guys would too, before the town went up in flames.

Jeff stood up, and Emma narrowed her eyes. For such a background figure, Jeff Milton had certainly had become outspoken, a fact further cemented as he gripped the bars and furiously responded, "You think we will be swayed by such petty tactics? You have locked up the wrong people. It's all of **you** who should be behind bars! You're letting a murdered walk free! You are all aiding her! The blood she has spilled is just as much in _your_ hands.

"You all carry yourselves as paradigms of peace and rehabilitation. Bullshit! You're monsters, and soon enough, you will get what's coming to you."

"Is that a threat?!" David thundered, fists formed as he approached Jeff. Ruby grabbed his forearm to hold him back, but he still kept glaring at the man behind the bars. "You can say all you want, but let me assure you of something. We wouldn't be supporting Regina if we didn't think she deserved it. So I _know_ for a fact that we have the right person behind bars. All of you can act like you're harbingers of justice, but you're nothing more than self-proclaimed vigilantes who will destroy anything in the misguided belief that you're doing good. Your little group is made of hatred and you are blind if you think you're going to walk out of here scot-free."

Ruby and Emma shared a look of utter surprise. Not even Ruby had ever seen the Charmings be so proclaimed for Regina's benefit.

Rather than answer the rebuke, Jeff just intoned, "Unless you have concrete proof to hold us, like DNA or even a video, or in other words: completely indisputable evidence... you're holding us here illegally. Undo this door and let us go."

Cringing, Ruby shook her head when the Charmings and Emma looked at her. There were no security cameras around Town Hall that were functioning - they had all been previously destroyed in one of the first attacks when the curse had broken - and Storybrooke wasn't advanced or well-funded enough to have a CSI team to forage for those kind of clues.

"I'm guessing from the silence and the worried looks that you have nothing on us. So unless you want me to call up my good friend DA Spencer, who would be more than happy to explain all the laws you're breaking, I'd unlock this damn door and let us go."

With a heavy heart, Ruby began to reach for the keys.

"Wait."

Everyone turned to look at Leroy, his face resolute.

"Leroy..." Jeff's voice sounded threatening, but he didn't sway the short man.

"I'll confess to everything," Leroy said.

"You will not!" Jeff screamed, rushing to him, but dark purple clouds engulfed Leroy and took him away, leaving Jeff to smash his face right onto the concrete wall.

Everyone flinched, before turning and seeing that Regina was there, arm still raised in the sweeping teleportation gesture, with a panicked Leroy standing beside her.

"Sorry I'm late." Regina said, face betraying nothing. "Now, from what I understand, that little stunt you were about to pull sounds pretty incriminating to me, Mr. Milton,"

"Bitch!" Jeff fumed, slamming his fists on the cell doors, his face beginning to redden from the impact. "I will-"

Regina raised her hand again and performed yet another spell that seemingly silenced Jeff. "Soundproofing. Now the only one who will have to deal with his ranting is Whale, who can also tend to that rather nasty face-plant."

Everyone then turned to look at Leroy. "Can I get immunity for this?" he sheepishly asked.

Emma snorted. "We'll see what info you have and we'll consider it."

* * *

After they all settled down in the interrogation room, Leroy confessed the entire plan from last night. He had been sitting in the Rabbit Hole with Whale, Jeff and Blue, when the guys decided to wreak their night of havoc. Blue declined, and left them to it; they had recruited a few more to join them, as there were strength in numbers, and headed to Town hall, where they stayed until they were caught.

After hearing his story, Emma convened with Ruby, the Charmings and Regina in order to decide what to do. In the end, they all decided to let him off with a warning, and making him promise to clean up everything from the attack, as well as taking up his duties to once again regularly clean Town Hall.

"By the way, how does the whole scheme in your little group work?" Emma nonchalantly asked when they were wrapping up. "Who's in charge?"

"If you're tryin' to find out if I know who the Anti-Serenader is, then no luck sister. I haven't the foggiest. The only person that I know is pretty high up there is Blue. Ask her, she knows who he is." Before he left, he turned to Regina and apologized. Or well, as eloquent as a nod, a handshake, and a "thanks" can mean an apology for Leroy.

After they were done, the Charmings left as well, leaving Emma with Ruby and Regina. Emma turned to her roommate and asked, "Do you always have that great of a timing?"

Regina smiled sheepishly. "I admit I may have been listening in the entire time. Kathryn noticed I wasn't really paying attention to anything she was saying so she said she'd hold down the fort, and I just listened in, figuring my presence wouldn't help matters."

"Bet you totally had an aneurysm at hearing Mary Margaret and David defending you right?" Ruby joked, chortling.

"It did surprise me, yes," Regina admitted with a small smile. She then glanced to the bullpen, where Jeff was still yelling, unheard by them. "What are we going to do about them? Jeff was the mastermind, but Whale helped incite them."

Emma shrugged. "I'm keeping them here for the day. Maybe all the yelling will get them both to see that they're in the wrong, while we decide how to properly deal with them. There needs to be serious consequences. Meanwhile I might go and talk to Blue. She knows more than she's letting on, and I'm going to get to the bottom of this."

Ruby pulled out the crossbow and said, "I'm going with you too. Better if we do this as an united front. You coming Regina?"

Regina shook her head. "Alas I think I've interfered enough times for today but-"

She was interrupted by the door opening, and the Wayward Gang entering. They came to a stand in front of the three women, and Emma smiled as she said, "I'm glad you guys came."

Maps shrugged and tried to act all nonchalant. "We said we would."

Taking the dismissive answer in stride, Emma said, "Now, things with our cells are a bit busy, so instead, you guys get to hang out here in this lovely interrogation room. It's got a water cooler and plenty of chairs. No one will know you are here, and I can come deliver food periodically."

Logan looked to where Emma was pointing and dryly asked, "Are _you guys_ gonna remember we're here?"

Ruby responded to that, saying, "If you keep asking more questions, then nope, we'll just forget all about you; now get in."

Maybe it was the fact that the werewolf was holding a crossbow, but they quickly filed into the room. Emma locked the door and Regina put the protective spell that would ward off anyone except for Emma.

Once that was done, Storybrooke's police duo headed out to the convent, hoping to get answers once and for all, while Regina got back to work.

However, Blue was ready for them, tight-lipped.

"I'm afraid I don't understand what any of this has to do with me...I've been here all night and all of today. And whether or not I met with acquaintances who made bad decisions is hardly my fault or your business. Also, Ms. Lucas, I'd appreciate it if you'd holster or get rid of that weapon. We're a place of peace and worship."

Ruby holstered the crossbow with a dissatisfied grumble.

Emma meanwhile persisted. "I know that you probably have a vested interest in keeping what you know close to your chest, but we know that you're not only working with the Anti-Serenader, but that you also know his identity."

Blue let out a shrill laugh that gave both Ruby and Emma goosebumps. "Oh that is preposterous. Why would I ever ally myself with such a person? it seems to me, Sheriff, you're grasping at straws, and as far as I'm aware, you have no real reason for interrogating me."

"We have reason to believe that you are lying," Emma responded, gritting her teeth. "Someone confessed, and they know you're close with him."

"Well, I know all three men who were arrested, and I doubt Jeff or Victor would break, so I would be correct in assuming that Snow's lapdog broke and cut a deal for himself. Well let me tell you something, Sheriff. Leroy is a drunk slob, and if you're going to trust someone's testimony, at least get someone with credentials, and not someone who has been drunk for the better part of 28 years. Now, if you have nothing more to bother me with, I'm afraid I am quite busy. Good day."

Once they were outside, Ruby was shaking in her fury. "I want to punch her in her smug face. She knows we can't touch her now, and she'll be extra careful to not get caught. I wouldn't be surprised if she's the Anti idiot herself."

Emma shook her head. "As much as I wish it was her, her magic smoke isn't black, and Regina said that it's not something you can fake."

"Knowing her, she probably found a way," Ruby muttered.

* * *

The rest of the day passed much quieter. Emma patrolled the town, not wishing to spend the day holed up with Jeff silently screaming to her across from the bullpen. She mentally planned out what she'd be doing for tonight with Regina, with her second-to-last message.

When the time finally came, she heard Regina leave the apartment, and prepared herself. Once she was in her costume, she quickly winked at Henry as she made her way past his room, pulled up her hood and activated the enchantments, before transporting herself to the roof.

Regina was obviously waiting, the warm late spring air making it a good time to be out and about, glancing at the two chairs there.

"Hi," Emma greeted, heading over to the chairs she had drawn up. "Ready for the show?"

"I am, though I don't see any fireworks here..." Regina said, looking around as if a box of them would appear in the barren roof. The chairs were the only things there, so there was no place to hide them.

"Actually, it's magic," she said, flexing her gloved fingers. "Figure it'd be a nice way to make a show. Less noise too."

Regina looked impressed, sitting down on one of the chairs and crossing her legs. "I'm curious to see this. You have tested to see if you can do it before?"

"Not really...didn't have anywhere to try without calling attention to myself." With that, she also sat down on a chair, and tried to get the fireworks started.

Nothing

"Damn. I'm really sorry I-" she was stopped by Regina placing her fingers by her mouth, shushing her.

"Don't apologize, it's commendable you got this far. How about we try this together. Now, what do we have to do?" Regina didn't seem to know much more than she did on creating fireworks, so Emma just summoned the tome she had been using, and pulled up the page on fireworks.

"Let's see, splay our palms upwards, flex fingers, think of the type of firework you want to summon, close your fist tightly, and then let it burst open," Emma read.

She heard a small sound and looked up; Regina had just shot a firework up into the sky from hearing her instructions, and the sky filled with red light from her firework. "You picked quite a tricky spell."

Emma shrugged and looked back down at the instructions, trying to mimic the directions given. No luck. "Damn, I had really wished it'd be easier to get the hang of it."

She was sure Regina would be disappointed at her shortcoming with tonight's message. However, when she looked at Regina, she was beaming brightly. "I suppose it's now my turn to serenade _you_."

Emma let out a laugh at Regina's satisfaction, settling down on the lawn chair and looking up.

Regina let out a stream of fireworks all over the sky, filling the town with colourful lights.

"So what was tonight's message?" she asked.

Clearing her throat, Emma softly sang, " _Such a heavenly view_."

Regina beamed, lowering her head to rest on Emma's shoulder. "Quite the romantic phrase."

"Well, I am a romantic," Emma quipped, wrapping an arm around Regina's shoulder.

"I can tell," Regina laughed, settling in closer. Despite the armrests between them, they stayed quite comfortably in that position until they were both falling asleep.

"I suppose I should head back downstairs," Regina said with a yawn.

Emma deposited a kiss on her forehead and said, "And tomorrow you'll get your final message."

"And a revelation too, correct?" Regina coyly asked, looking pointedly at the disguised woman beside her.

"Yep," Emma assured with a laugh.

"Do I get to know when you'll do it?"

She shook her head. "Nope."

They both stood up and shared a few kisses before parting ways. Tomorrow, everything would be laid out on the table, and things would certainly change. All Emma hoped for was that it would be a change for the better.

* * *

The next morning, the two women in the apartment woke up with polarizing feelings brewing in their gut.

There was Regina, who was feeling an excitement that had long been absent from her life. The last time she'd been this excited had been when she first held Henry. This was probably what people of this world called 'feeling like a kid on Christmas morning'.

Meanwhile, Emma woke up feeling like someone had taken her on a few rounds at an intense roller coaster. She felt distracted and nauseous and it didn't help that Regina was noticing.

"Emma, why are you spreading jam with your fork?" Regina asked at one moment while Henry snickered.

"Huh? Oh right...just sleepy and nervous," Emma mumbled, keeping her eyes on her plate.

Rather than leave it at that, Regina persisted. "Why are you nervous?"

"Well, from having to deal with Jeff and Whale. I imagine they won't be happy campers after spending a day there," Emma responded, adding a grimace for effect. While it was true, that was the least of her worries.

Regina accepted the answer, turning to Henry as he asked, "So mom, excited for the Serenader?"

Emma tried to send a subtle glare to their son, but he was looking at Regina and therefore missed it.

"Of course, hoping she doesn't chicken out," Regina playfully said, laughing along with Henry.

"I'm sure she won't...the fireworks were cool last night!" As they descended into a conversation, Emma excused herself to go change, saying she was heading to work earlier so she could get it over and done with.

it took her three tries to get her clothes on right, and every time she thought she was ready, she was forgetting something else. Her keys, her badge, her wallet. "Better I don't forget my head while I'm at it," she grumbled when she was sure she had everything.

When she exited her room, Henry and Regina were still talking. "D'you know when she's coming?" Henry was asking.

Regina shook her head. "She pointedly refused to tell me, but I'm hoping sooner rather than later, the suspense is killing me."

Emma figured she'd add her own bit to not appear suspicious. "Let me know when it happens, I'm curious too."

Both Millses gave her looks. Henry's was of amusement, and Regina's mild confusion. Clearly Regina has been expecting Emma to be under the hood, and these phrases just threw her off. But no matter, everything would be laid bare tonight. Emma had it all planned out.

* * *

"Finally!" Jeff hoarsely exclaimed as the door was opened, and the enchantment fell away. She barely stopped herself from cringing, Jeff's face looked horrible. "You are going to be hearing from my lawyer, I can assure you!"

Emma looked unimpressed. "Yeah yeah, you're not as free as you'd like to imagine."

Whale, who looked worse for wear, grumbled, "What do you mean?"

"You two are leaving on terms of probation. As you well know, this town doesn't have the space or resources to hold upstanding criminals such as yourselves for a long period of time, so we have to improvise." As Emma laid out the terms of their release, including curfew, probationary meetings, and places they're banned from, the two grew more and more worried. They hadn't been expecting that their punishments would be anything more than a slap on the wrist.

But Emma and Ruby had been thinking up of ways to really discourage anyone from pulling these stunts again yesterday afternoon. They had been too lenient, but now that their little group had grown bigger, Emma had enough drive to make these kind of punishments and dole them out without repercussions.

"You can't do this!" Whale screeched. "What am I supposed to do with my job?!"

Emma shrugged. "As I said yesterday, it's not my problem you decided to deface public property. Next time, be smarter and don't get involved. Now scram."

They did, effectively silent.

Relaxing, Emma decided to deliver the food she had gotten at the Diner to the inhabitants of the interrogation room. Once that was done, she could focus on how she was going to approach Regina tonight. Granted, she already had a plan in place, but there was always time to nitpick over it, obsessive as it may seem.

Unbeknownst to her, she wasn't the only one obsessing. On the other side of town, Regina wasn't faring much better.

"Do you want me to get you a notebook so you can doodle 'Mrs. Serenader' all over?" Kathryn quipped as she entered Regina's office, arms laden with folders.

"Funny. And you would be feeling the same way if you were in my position," Regina responded.

Kathryn paused to think for a minute but then shook her head. "Nah, I'd probably be worse; freaking out all over town. You're showing restraint, or at least you were. Today you're full on in high school crush mode. Do you even know when she's showing up or where?"

Regina shook her head. "Not really. She said she's keeping it a surprise."

"Watch her do it at the end of the day just to keep you guessing."

"She could, but she's also very nervous...she might just want to get it done and over with, or she'll wait to the last possible second because of those nerves."

"Fair enough. Now you have to approve all these forms," Kathryn said, changing the subject with a fake cheery tone.

With the rehabilitation center in place, there were going to be workshops held for the participants, not to mention that they had to pay for the repairs to be made with the destruction on the building. It was as if the forms never ended. "I hope today goes by fast."

"Saying that just guarantees it'll go by slow," Kathryn sing-songed as she left her friend and boss to it.

Regina groaned. She was in for a long day.

* * *

Emma after her planning all the way past lunch, she attempted to distract herself by combing through a map of Storybrooke to see where the Anti-Serenader's base of operations could be. She decided to consult with the Wayward gang, much friendlier now that their bellies were full and they weren't in imminent danger of getting their hearts crushed.

She narrowed down quite a lot of places, based on their information and her conclusions. The base was either in the forest, in one of the many abandoned farmhouses that Storybrooke had, or the convent.

"Are you guys sure about the convent?" Emma asked. "Seems like a pretty high-profile place to carry out their business."

"Not that much when you think about it. You told us Blue was a suspect right? The nuns do what Mother Superior tells them, the basement is totally cleared because of safety problems they had a few years back, and who would dare accuse the clergy of harbouring an evil mastermind operation?" Colin countered.

She had to admit he had a point, but she couldn't go at it alone. Tomorrow Ruby would be free to work with her - Granny had become a lot more lenient on letting her help Emma now that she wasn't part of Group Vitriol anymore, much to Emma's happiness - and that gave her more manpower to storm the convent.

By the time she had to go pick up Henry, she was ready for the day to end, but then Regina called.

"Everything alright?" Emma asked after she picked up, wondering if maybe the Anti-Serenader attacked again.

"Yes, I just decided I'd go pick up Henry and take him home...I'm having a shorter work day so I figure I'd just take care of that if you don't mind," Regina answered.

"Are you just freaking about the Serenader reveal?"

There was a pause on the other end of the line "...Yes. But I'm totally within reason!"

Emma chuckled. "I didn't say you weren't. But for sure go get Henry, and just have yourself a lazy afternoon."

* * *

A lazy afternoon wasn't exactly as she envisioned, with Regina planting herself on the living room sofa with a book, claiming she needed the peace, otherwise she'd go stir-crazy looking at the clock. By the time Emma got back home in the evening, Regina was frantically putting the finishing touches with dinner, having already prepared it this morning.

"You're not joining us?" Emma asked when Regina said she was going to take a bath.

Regina shook her head. "Too nervous."

So Emma gathered the plates for her and Henry and headed to his room. At least this way she'd have company and be able to talk without being overheard.

"You can do it ma, she practically already knows," Henry said reassuringly after they had finished dinner. They were still sitting in Henry's room, with him on his desk chair, while Emma was on the edge of his bed, under the pretense of helping Henry with his homework. She just kept twirling the pink tiger lily flower stem in her hand that was going to be handing to Regina. She had materialized it a few minutes ago, noticing that the day was almost over, and she had a promise to keep.

"That doesn't exactly make me feel better..." Emma murmured. Henry wasn't exactly the best person to talk about regarding her love problems, but right now she had the jitters and there was no one else she could talk to. Ruby was on patrol, a favour so Emma could be here and play the final act in her crazy plan.

"Just go already!" he pointedly gestured to the door and Emma sighed.

He was right, she should just get it over with. She cleared her throat and said, "Wish me luck," before she walked out of his room and went towards the living room, holding the flower behind her back.

Regina had returned to her position in the living room that she'd been sitting in all afternoon, waiting for the Serenader to appear, now all showered. She had finally decided that time went by faster when she was reading, but she was finding it hard to concentrate. She saw Emma approaching and looked up, bookmarking the page and setting the book aside.

"Still waiting huh?" Emma asked once she was standing in front of the sofa Regina was sitting on.

"Yes. Unfortunately the Serenader didn't tell me when she'd be coming, so I've just been biding my time today." Regina sighed and then asked, "Everything alright?"

Emma nodded. "Just wanted to check up on you."

"I'm fine." Regina smiled and figured that Emma would leave, but when she stayed planted on the spot, Regina prompted, "Emma?"

With a deep breath and about a thousand prayers to whatever deity might be listening, Emma started to sing, " _You're such a heavenly view_."

As she sang, she brought out the flower from behind her and held it out for Regina. Once she finished, she waited with baited breath for a reaction.

Regina took a moment to compose herself, her mouth having involuntarily opened during the impromptu chorus, and then in an uncharacteristic move, she grinned and jumped up to engulf Emma in a hug, letting out a laugh. "I knew it!"

Emma laughed too and returned the hug just as tightly. When they broke apart, Emma barely got a chance to look at Regina's beaming face before she was brought in for a fierce kiss. Emma involuntarily let out a soft moan and just wrapped her arms around Regina's waist, kissing back the woman she had fallen for with as much vigour as she could.

Once they finally kissed and hugged all that they needed, Regina smacked Emma playfully on the arm. "And you thought I wouldn't like you back?"

Emma chuckled and raised an eyebrow. "You did try to run me out of town."

"Ancient history," Regina rolled her eyes and then asked, "Seriously though, why did you think that?"

"I told you; you're a queen and I'm just...me," Emma said, looking at the flower in her hand.

Regina gently grasped Emma's chin and brought her head back up so their eyes met, depositing a soft kiss before she said, "You, Emma Swan, are much more than 'just me'. You are an incredibly strong and courageous woman who is unafraid to love and go after what you want. You helped to defend me and you housed me when no one else would. In my book, you are just as equal and worthy as I am."

While Emma gaped, Regina took the flower from Emma's hand and smelled the tiger lily's sweet fragrance. "Maybe once you are finished processing all that, you want to join me in my room? That way I can show you a few magic tricks of my own."

It didn't take any time for Emma to process that, and she just smirked and followed Regina to the latter's bedroom, where she didn't even wait for the door to close before going to kiss Regina once more. She just couldn't get enough of her, and it all felt so perfectly right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tadaaa!
> 
> As promised, the grand reveal of Emma to Regina! For those interested, I've made a graphic to go along with it [and it's also the new cover for this fic].
> 
> And 400+ reviews! Wow, I'm flattered!
> 
> I was going to make this two chapters, but I figured that if I had made everyone wait for one more chapter, I'd be getting some serious fireballs my way, so this is what you get instead, a reaaally long chapter.
> 
> Now, this fic has about 3 chapters left, just as a spitball figure. I know some people were only interested in the Serenader part of the story, so I hope those that no longer wish to read on have enjoyed this, and if you wish to continue, I'll try to update this soon!
> 
> Meanwhile I'll be updating Flirting with Death, followed by A Thief in the Night!
> 
> Let me know what you thought!


	20. Revelation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost a year later and I'm updating this. I feel guilty just knowing I've been making you guys wait this long.
> 
> But never fear! This update features plenty to make up for it. Although it won't be the longest chapter ever, it will feature the tying up of a few loose ends, including the reveal of the big bad!
> 
> I'll leave you to begin reading, so enjoy!

It was a ringing noise that woke Emma up the next day.

At first, she didn't even try to seek out the source of the noise, mainly because she was in awe of the beautiful woman lying beside her.

Regina looked so peaceful lying there, and she couldn't get the feeling of kissing her out of her head. Last night had been magical, in more ways than one, and Emma could only hope it would always be like this between them.

The persistent ringing finally got Emma to pay attention to it, and she picked it up without even looking at the caller ID.

"Hello?"

"Oh Emma thank god I got a hold of you." It was Ruby, and she sounded frazzled.

"Everything okay?" Emma asked, starting to worry.

Rather than answer, Ruby asked, "Are Henry and Regina with you?"

"What? Ruby-"

"Are they with you?" Ruby repeated. The evasiveness had Emma very worried.

"Yes, but what does that-"

"Get your butt down to Main Street. The Anti-Serenader attacked again."

Emma groaned. "What did he do now?"

"It's...a bit complicated to explain. Just get here and make sure Regina and Henry safe." Ruby hung up after that, leaving Emma puzzled beyond compare.

"What happened?" Regina groused, having heard part of the conversation.

And so Emma repeated everything Ruby had told her. "I think that we pressed one too many buttons, and the Anti-Serenader stepped up his game. While one hand, that means we're close, on the other hand, we've clearly backed him into a corner, and that just makes him more dangerous. I'll go check out whatever happened, and I'll be back."

Regina leant forward and gently brought her lips to Emma's. "Please be careful."

Emma grinned. "I will."

* * *

It wasn't hard to find the source of the commotion. There was a crowd gathered around Granny's, with Ruby fending everyone back, along with Granny and her infamous crossbow.

"This is a crime scene people!" Ruby was yelling. "I'm sorry that you won't be getting your breakfast, but the place is closed."

Emma pushed her way through the fray, finally making her way to Ruby.

"About time. Come on," Ruby said, beckoning her through the trellis and into the diner's patio.

Granny remained vigilant, and cocked her crossbow. "I'm not going to be any nicer folks, so I'll only say it once: back off!"

That got most people to back off, and Ruby could start explaining what had happened without fearing they would be overheard.

"This morning, Granny was about to open up, and she found a bunch of these lilies strewn about."

Emma recognized the specific variety of currently shriveled tiger lilies all strewn about and stomped on. But she figured Ruby wouldn't call her all panicked for this, so she let her friend continue.

"Granny didn't think much of it, but then she went to open the rooftop patio, and well...it's best that you see it."

And so, they made their way inside and up the stairs to the rooftop. Once there, Emma saw that all the chairs and tables had been stacked in the corner, all except for one table.

Emma approached it, seeing an object on it. It was a medium sized box with the top open, all made out of ornate carved wood, but what made Emma's stomach drop, was the content of said box.

"Is that a-" Emma gulped.

"I think so," Ruby grimly replied.

It was a heart, snugly inside. But the worst part was the wood chipper going through it.

"Whose heart is that?" Emma asked.

"We don't know. I figured either you or Regina might be able to magic something out of it, but I didn't want to move it before you got here. I already tried to search for fingerprints, but whoever did this wiped everything down like a pro."

Suddenly, they heard a commotion below, and they heard Leroy hollering, "This is ridiculous! You're telling me the diner's now turned into a crime scene?"

"And here I thought Leroy had turned a new leaf," Emma groused.

Ruby snorted. "That new leaf is done and gone when you get in the way of Leroy and his morning bacon."

Emma gingerly grabbed a table cloth and wrapped the box in it, ready to take it to Regina for inspection.

"You okay to handle these guys?" Emma asked.

"Only if I get to arrest Leroy for public disruption," Ruby said, pulling out a set of cuffs.

They could still hear Leroy ranting below, so Emma nodded. "By all means."

She decided to teleport back to the apartment, rather than face the town. It was bad enough another crime had been commited, but if she passed through with a box wrapped up in a tablecloth, and anyone got wind of the heart inside it, she would never hear the end of it.

And so, within seconds, she was back in the apartment. She found Regina sitting on the couch, same as she was last night, reading a book. "Where is Henry?"

Regina had been truly engrossed in the book, she hadn't even noticed that Emma was back, and she jumped a little bit. "I took him to your parents, and they can take Henry to school. From the little you told me, I figured it best if Henry was with your parents. And if they call, tell them I am sorry for dropping by unannounced in their apartment. Teleporting was the only way I thought to get Henry there, and your mother did not enjoy that little breakfast intrusion. Henry however, could barely hold his laughter."

Emma grinned, and from the conspiratorial smile Regina had, she wasn't too remorseful.

Then Regina nodded the wrapped object in Emma's hands. "What is that?"

Emma sighed and went over to sit with Regina in the couch, gingerly setting the object down and unwrapping the cloth from around the box. "I need your help with this."

"The box?" Regina asked, puzzled.

"No." Emma used the cloth to pry the box open again, and let Regina look at the pierced heart. She heard Regina gasp. "I need you to tell me whose heart this is, and if there's any way this person is alive."

"If this heart belongs to someone here, they will be alive, but in a lot of pain," Regina said, studying the heart from all sides.

"' _Someone here_?'" Emma repeated, dumbfounded.

Regina nodded. "I have a crypt filled with hearts of people that are not here, in the literal and metaphysical sense."

Emma looked more appalled at the idea by the second. "So wait, what happens if they're not here in the metaphysical but their hearts are?"

"I don't know. I've never experimented with travelling between worlds without a heart."

"But wouldn't that person be kinda invincible without their heart?" Emma asked.

"A person can still die if their heart is not in their body. It might be harder, but still doable. Hence why I have a collection of hearts without their hosts. I had plenty of use for hearts without having to worry about the people that they belonged to. It's perfectly possible the Anti-Serenader did the same thing. A foolproof test would be to order the heart to do something, and see if anything happens."

Emma grimly nodded. "Order them to call the station."

Regina shook her head. "For one thing, I am sure half the town is calling the station in a panicked frenzy. Secondly, if the owner of this heart is not in this world, they won't even know what a phone is, let alone call anyone. No, we'd need to see if we can get them to come here."

"How does that work?"

"Not a clue. I suppose we'll find out. May I?" Regina gestured for the heart, and Emma gave her the go ahead.

Regina picked up the heart, and she removed the wood chipper. Instinctively, Emma breathed a sigh if relief; she had felt like she'd had a wood chipper going through her own heart ever since she first saw it.

She watched as Regina held the heart up and spoke into it. "I summon you to come to Emma Swan's apartment in Storybrooke right now."

Emma looked around the room. Nothing. Not even a sound or flash of light.

"So, they're dead?" Emma asked after a beat.

"It might take a while for this to happen. If they are in another world, getting here certainly won't be easy." Regina gingerly put the heart back in the box and closed the top. "So, what are we going to do?"

Emma set her mouth into a thin line. "We are going to take the fight to them. I have had it with this."

* * *

Dr. Whale looked up when he saw Leroy barge in to his office.

"Look who it is! The traitor!" Whale greeted with a smirk.

"Yeah yeah, rub it in," Leroy grunts. "You would've done the same to me if you had more balls."

Whale hissed mockingly. "Stingy! But who knows. Maybe I figured rolling over to the Charmings wouldn't be profitable."

Leroy huffed. "It does if it clears you of suspicion and gets people to look the other way."

"Wow, didn't think you could think that far ahead, what with all the alcohol muddling your brain. Speaking of which, aren't you supposed to be in the drunk tank?" Whale asked.

"Aren't you supposed to be looking at the bottom of your glass by now?" Leroy retorted with derision.

"Fair enough. What are you doing here though?"

"You didn't hear? The witch has lost it!" the dwarf exclaimed.

Whale blinked. "Unlike you, I have been working all night because I finished my shift too late to head out, courtesy of the Sheriff's imposed curfew. Thus, I have unfortunately not heard the latest. What did our beloved mayor do now?"

"She did something...they're being all hush hush about it, but whatever it is, it's got Granny and Red all in knots."

Whale put his palms together and leant forward before saying, "While I appreciate being kept on top of all the gossip in this town, I do have to ask: why would you come all the way down here just to tell me this?"

Leroy huffed. "Come on Doc. Blue has something big planned. I know you know more than I do, so just tell me. I wanna know if it's close to completion that way I can be ready."

Whale let out a guffaw. "I'm not sure if you've forgotten, or if Mary Margaret's little bluebirds crash landed on you a little too hard, but I know squat more than you do, much to my chagrin."

Slamming his hands on Whale's desk, Leroy scoffed. "That's bull and you know it."

Whale mimicked Leroy, standing up so his lanky frame towered Leroy's bulky one. "No, I don't. Talk to Blue, and see if maybe you can convince her to give me a ticket to this oh-so-exclusive club you're so convinced I'm part of."

Leroy huffed and rolled his eyes, not bothering to be gentle as he slammed the door closed.

* * *

On the other side of town, in Emma and Regina's apartment, Ruby and Kathryn were helping to get Emma ready. Kathryn was taping a wire to Emma's chest, while Ruby set up the recorder and the microphone

"This is going to hurt like hell when I take it off," Emma grumbled. "It's already hurting to put it on."

"If you'd just stay still..." Kathryn countered, taping another end of the wire. "It would make life a lot easier for us."

Emma just rolled her eyes. Then, the door burst open and Leroy barged in. All three women stiffened for a moment before they realized it was just Regina in disguise.

"Did you get anything?" Ruby asked as Regina returned to her normal self.

"Apart from the fact that I remembered why I hated to do this so much and how rusty I am? Not really. Whale doesn't know anything. He just confirmed what we figured all along. On the bright side, now we've got it on tape and from a more credible source than Leroy," Regina said, removing the recorder she had had in her pocket. "Blue knows more than she's letting on, but it's an exclusive group."

"Hence this," Emma said, gesturing to the preparations with a grimace. "Please tell me there's a spell to remove tape from my chest without hurting?"

Regina blinked. "Not that I'm aware of."

Emma let out a long-suffering groan, and it prompted Regina to smile fondly and approach Emma and give her a chaste kiss on her lips. "But don't worry, I'll make sure to kiss it all better."

Ruby and Kathryn let out simultaneous snorts. "Please tell me you guys are always like this," Ruby snickered.

"Yeah, it would definitely help your image Regina," Kathryn agreed. She then dramatically exclaimed, "See the once feared and reviled Queen Regina act adorably with the Serenader and whisper sweet nothings to each other."

Even Emma had to laugh at that, but then it morphed into a yelp as Kathryn smacked her. "Don't move! Also, I'm making this particularly painful because you didn't even tell me you were the Serenader! Come on Emma, I thought we had something."

"Don't feel too bad," Ruby said. "I was kept out of the loop until I literally backed her into a corner."

Regina crossed her arms. "I've got you all beat. I was being purposely baited and teased by this one as she wooed me for weeks."

Emma mimicked waving a flag. "I yield, I yield."

"Don't worry Emma, we forgive you," Kathryn beamed. "There! Done."

"And I'm almost- wait, nope, I'm done!" Ruby excitedly exclaimed. "Ready to go and take Group Vitriol down once and for all and to unmask the Anti-Serenader?"

Emma went to readjust her shirt and put her jacket back on. "You bet."

* * *

Blue looked up with a calm, almost disinterested expression when Emma walked in to her office. "Thank you, Maria, that will be all."

The dismissed fairy nun curtsied and closed the door behind her.

"I'm happy to see you're doing better, Sheriff," Blue stiffly greeted, gesturing to the chair in front of her. "To what do I owe this pleasure once again, for the second day in a row?"

Emma stayed standing. "I came to give you one chance to come clean. One shot to get a lesser sentence for your crimes."

With a titter, Blue responded, "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about!"

"No? Allow me to clarify: I know you tried to convince my parents to have me drink a potion that, as you were well aware, would cause me unbearable pain. I know you're privy to anything Group Vitriol does, and therefore makes you an accomplice to all the multiple crimes committed. I know you are part of a secret organization within Group Vitriol that is planning something which involves woodworkers, hearts, and wood boxes. I could go on, but I think you get the gist."

Emma wasn't sure what she was expecting. It certainly wasn't a tittering laugh.

"Oh my goodness. I had really been needing that laugh. I haven't heard something so ridiculous since...oh I don't know when."

A new voice spoke out, "Perhaps it was when I said that our beloved Sheriff had fallen head over heels for the mayor and decided to put on that ridiculous get-up to demonstrate it."

Emma whipped around to the open terrace, and the man standing there. Jeff Milton. She faltered at his wording and his smirk. He knew.

"Oh don't look so surprised Sheriff. After all, for all the ridiculousness of the Serenader, it was fun to play your evil doppelganger. Setting everything on fire that night and letting you chase me all over town was the most fun I'd had in weeks!"

"You!" Emma exclaimed. "You're the Anti-Serenader."

"Guilty as charged." Jeff let out a laugh. "You know, I have to say I underestimated you, Sheriff. You're much smarter than you look."

And then, Emma's world went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooooh Jeff!
> 
> Kinda out of the left field huh? I tried to incorporate him in such a way that wasn't suspicious/forced, but that you would be aware of him.
> 
> Next chapter we will find out who he really is, and we will wrap this story up! Then after that, an epilogue/preview for the sequel!
> 
> Sorry once again for the delay! Next up you can expect me to update Flirting with Death and A Thief in the Night. For those who saw, I have also decided to delve into the Supercorp fandom and write fics. But worry not! I'm still gonna keep writing SQ and finish these fics!
> 
> I'd love to know what you thought of this!


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